Stay Stay Stay
by Kayson3259
Summary: Spencer and Toby have been through it all as a couple. But now, as they navigate married life, they find themselves cracking under pressure at the everyday things. After all they've been through, will their love prevail? Part III of the Red Trilogy.
1. Prologue

_**Author's Note: **Hey to everyone who decided to continue with me on this journey involving my Red trilogy. This will be the third (and final, I promise) installment. Just as a note, this story picks up where the last left off. This is the first story to not start in the middle and it's written more like a grouping of novellas (I guess...?) that each take place in a different year of Spencer and Toby's marriage. _

_Now that all of the formalities are out of the way..._

* * *

**Prologue**

"Are we really married?" Spencer murmured as she stared at the gold vintage wedding band with a diamond that once belonged to Toby's mother.

He nodded before kissing her on the head.

"We have a few minutes before we have to go out there," she said quietly before looking at the door leading out to the ballroom where the cocktail hour was being held.

"What are you trying to say?" Toby asked cautiously.

She let a faint smile cross her lips. "I think you know what I'm trying to say," she replied as she reached for his hands.

"As enticing and great as that sounds, I'm almost sure that's not a good idea," he answered.

She pouted. "Well I guess you'll have to make it up to me on our honeymoon," she sing-songed. "Maybe two or three or seven times over."

"I'm starting to wonder what's gotten into you," he teased.

"Well…you know what they say. Sex is the first thing to go," she told him.

He was about to say something before there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Spencer chirped before getting up.

Hanna walked in. Her hair looked perfect, as per usual, but she looked a bit frazzled. "Hey, how are the two of you lovebirds doing?" she asked breathlessly.

"Fine, but the question is how are you doing?" Toby inquired with concern.

Hanna sighed quickly. "I'm fine. I've been chasing Cassidy around. I don't know how or when, but she managed to get to some sweets and now she's running around like crazy. I managed to get her and return her to Aria, but who knows when she's going to get the next wave of her sugar rush?" she asked before taking Spencer's seat. After exactly five seconds of taking deep breaths, Hanna jumped back up and turned to them, shaking her head. "I'll get time to breathe later, after this is over. I should probably get back to my job as maid of honor," she said before walking back towards the door. "And Mrs. Cavanaugh? I expect you to do an _amazing _job as my maid of honor when I get married," she said before opening the door and exiting.

Spencer laughed. "You have to love Hanna…" she thought aloud.

* * *

She rested her head on his shoulder as they danced slowly. It wasn't elaborate or ostentatious like some couples insisted their first dances be. It was simple. It was sincere. It wasn't trying to impress anyone. In a nutshell, it reflected them as a couple.

As the song ended, she pulled back to face him as other couples and other people joined them on the floor.  
"This day was perfect," she commented.

"There's no such thing as perfect."

"That's what I thought. But this day _was_," she said. "I got married to the most amazing person ever. What could be more perfect than that?"

"I'm not _that _amazing…"

She smiled. "But you are. And now you're all mine _forever_. So good luck ever trying to get out of it," she teased.

"I'm kind of surprised you'd even think that of me," he answered, feigning disbelief.

She shook her head. "You're a goofball. But more importantly, you're _my _goofball."

From across the room, Aria was holding Cassidy as she stood next to Emily. Cassidy was falling asleep rather quickly. Emily looked with some kind of envy at all the couples around the room. She wanted love like that.

"What are you thinking, Em?" Aria asked as Cassidy began murmuring something into her shoulder.

Emily sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. It's been a long time since I've been on a date."

Aria nodded. "Well, I can guarantee that you're going to make some lucky girl _really _happy one day," Aria assured her.

Emily just sighed again.

Back on the dance floor, Hanna was dancing with Caleb. But she couldn't help but be distracted. She was biting down on her lower lip so hard, Caleb was concerned she might start bleeding.

"Are you okay, Hanna?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She snapped back into reality. "Oh, um, yeah, it's just…if they didn't get that cake exactly right I think I might have to go after somebody," she said.

He just laughed and she smiled.

* * *

"But Toby—"

"Spencer, are you really—"

"Yes, I'm really asking you to take me home!" she exclaimed. "I miss my baby," she complained.

"Spencer, Pandora is fine at home. She was sleeping when Emily checked on her, remember?" Toby inquired.

"I know, but that was hours ago. Please, Toby?" she said with pleading brown eyes.

"The wedding is almost over, Spencer. Can we wait until then?" he asked.

She sighed. "Fine," she gave in. "But if my baby is upset or hurt—"

"Cats are really independent creatures, Spencer. They can usually handle themselves for as long as a day or two. I think she's fine for a few hours."

"I know, but she's all alone and what if she's lonely?" Spencer inquired with the concern in her voice evident. Toby couldn't help but wonder what it would be like leaving their child at home with a babysitter for the first time. Spencer would be a mess.

"We can leave in an hour, Spencer. It only takes half an hour to get back."

She sighed. "Fine, I guess that's okay," she mumbled.

* * *

Pandora meowed as she trotted over to Spencer and Toby when they walked through the door. Spencer quickly scooped her up in her arms.

"I'm sorry that Daddy didn't want to come home early to see you," Spencer said to Pandora as Pandora buried her head into Spencer's dress.

"Really, Spence?" Toby inquired. He still couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice.

"She was lonely! Just like I said she would be! And now we have to leave her again…" Spencer trailed off. Pandora was purring in her arms.

"She and Hanna seemed to be pretty good friends. I don't think you have anything to worry about," Toby said as he put his hands on her shoulders.

Spencer just pouted when she looked down at Pandora and had to think of leaving her again.

He just sighed behind her. "I'm going to draw a hot bath. Do you want to join me?"

She could tell he was smiling when he said it. Of course, he was; he got her with that.

"I'll be there in five minutes."

* * *

_Please review/follow/favourite this new story of mine! It would be much appreciated and I love hearing from my readers. _

_Thank you for reading! **-Kayson**_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note: **Hey guys! I'm back! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of "Stay Stay Stay"! _

* * *

**Chapter One**

"Tiffany! They're home!" Hanna exclaimed as she jumped down from the couch in Spencer and Toby's house. She quickly hung up the phone and threw it haphazardly on the couch. She ran over to the door to greet the newly married couple from their honeymoon.

"Hey! We missed you!" the blonde shouted eagerly as she threw her arms around Spencer and then Toby. Pandora had followed her.

"How was my baby?" Spencer asked as she pet the cat.

"Pandora Cat Cavanaugh was fine. She _insisted _on sleeping on a pile of Toby's t-shirts," Hanna told them.

Spencer smiled amusedly. "See? She likes you a lot, Toby," Spencer told him.

"And then, she spent the rest of her time walking on your bed. She looked so cute! I took like a thousand pictures of her," Hanna said before pulling out her phone and showing them.

Spencer fawned over the pictures. "You need to send me those, Hanna."

Hanna nodded. Toby let them talk a little more as he picked up Pandora and walked back into the house. Pandora crept up to his shoulder and positioned herself around his neck. She began to rub his cheek.

Behind him, Toby heard the door close. Spencer walked in and gasped. "Are you cheating on me with Pandora? Or…"

Her eyes widened as she thought of the other possible scenario. "Is Pandora cheating on me with you?"

Toby shook his head at her. Pandora meowed at Spencer.

"Anything you ever said about Pandora is a lie," Spencer said before walking over. Pandora jumped into her arms. "She loves you so much," she commented as she rubbed Pandora. "She's such a sweetheart," she commented to nobody in particular.

* * *

"Bor! Bor! Bor!" Cassidy exclaimed as she crawled, trying to catch up to the smaller cream-colored British shorthair.

"What ever prompted you to name your cat Bourgeois, anyway?" Spencer asked as she took a sip of coffee.

Aria sighed. "It's a really long story. I was feeling nostalgic and started roaming through my college textbooks. I opened one and encountered the French Revolution. Cassidy loves the name," she explained.

"So his nickname is Bor?"

"Cassidy is the only one who calls him that because she can't really pronounce Bourgeois yet," Aria said.

"Bor! Do!" Cassidy exclaimed, calling out for the cats as they ran past Aria and Spencer. Aria scooped her daughter up in her arms.

"Whoa! Where are you going, Cass?" Aria asked. "You don't want to stay a while and talk to Auntie Spencer and me?" she teased.

Cassidy just gave them a cute, guilty-looking smile. She pointed towards the cats and Aria put her down. "Fine. Play with your friends."

"Thanks, Mommy."

Cassidy ran off. Spencer smiled. "She's such a sweetheart and so cute."

Aria scrutinized Spencer. "Okay, I see that look in your eyes. I thought I might have been seeing it before, with Chloe, but I wasn't too sure. Do you want to have a child?" Aria asked.

Spencer looked at Aria before taking a look at Cassidy. "Um…I mean…I do. But…I don't think I'm ready now. It's one thing holding Cassidy, but it's another holding your own flesh and blood in your arms. Especially after…" she trailed off.

Aria nodded while trying to give her a small smile. "Yeah, I understand, Spencer."

"I kind of spoke to Toby about this but whenever I talk to him about it…" she trailed off again. "He says he's fine, but I can tell by his eyes that he's not. I just…I want to make him happy. And I feel selfish by saying, 'No, we can't have children yet,' because I see that look in his eyes that he gets whenever he holds one of his nieces."

Aria put her hand over Spencer's. "Hey, Spencer. Toby loves you so, so much. If you're not ready, he'll understand. Maybe in a few months, you'll have a change of heart. But I don't think Toby would ever leave you because you're not ready to have kids yet. You're only twenty-seven. Most women don't have a baby until they're in their thirties," Aria insisted.

Spencer tried to keep a tear from rolling down her cheek, but found it increasingly difficult.

"It's okay to cry about it."

* * *

"Can you please explain to me again how I got roped into babysitting for Tiffany and Shane?" Hanna asked as she rocked Chloe back and forth in her arms. Luckily for her, Chloe was asleep and would likely stay that way.

Emily shrugged before taking a sip of her coffee. She was checking something on her phone.

"Who are you texting, Miss Social Butterfly?" Hanna asked.

Emily shrugged. "Nobody."

Hanna sat with her mouth agape. "Nobody? Is that code for 'I have a crush, but I'm too scared to tell you who since I'm a prude'?" Hanna asked.

Emily furrowed her eyebrows. "Me? A prude?"

Hanna gave her the Classic Spencer Look. "You've been single for forever," she said.

The brunette sighed. "Not by choice, Han."

Hanna frowned. "I guess that means I have to find you a date."

Suddenly, the blonde was quite happy again. "I get to find you a date!" she professed. "Oh, my God! Ems! I'm going to find you the most _amazing _girl ever and then you guys are going to get married and adopt like twenty kids and like three pets, who I think should probably be birds. I don't know; you always struck me as the bird type. Oh, but you should keep them away from Aria. She'll probably shoot them and turn them into feather earrings for herself—"

"Hanna? I appreciate you wanting to set me up with someone, but I want to do this for myself," Emily said as she put down the phone.

Hanna slumped back in her seat. She wasn't used to Emily being so firm about things. And then she felt small pangs of guilt. She realized how much she would've hated it if someone constantly insisted that she needed to date.

You know, if she were still single.

"So how is Caleb?" Emily asked, changing the subject. Hanna was quite glad to see a smile on her face.

"Oh," Hanna began with a happy sigh, "he's fine. We're fine. Better than fine, actually. I don't know what it is about him…I can just be so open. I haven't felt this way since…you know."

On occasion, it still hurt her to mention his name. Emily understood.

"I'm glad you were able to find someone to make you happy," she answered. There was an undertone of longing in her voice. Hanna could hear it.

"You'll find someone to make you happy someday," the blonde insisted as she brushed back some of the baby's hair. "I promise, Em."

* * *

Spencer laughed as she watched Pandora toss around a wad of tin foil which had missed the garbage can. She laughed even harder as Pandora prepared to pounce on a still ball of tin foil.

"What are you doing? You're such a silly cat," Spencer said before rubbing Pandora on the head.

Spencer got up and went back to preparing dinner. Occasionally, Pandora ran up past her legs, her tail tickling Spencer's bare legs. Spencer couldn't help whenever that happened.

Spencer heard the door open sometime later.

"Hey," Spencer greeted as Toby gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey. How were you? And Pandora?"

Spencer moved towards the sink to watch her hand. "Pandora is fine. She's been playing with that tin foil for the last hour. I, however, missed you a lot. And I'm anxious. What if something goes wrong?"

Toby laughed as he pushed some hair away from her eyes. "Please. Look at Pandora. She's going to be fine at the vet. You're worrying for nothing. She was fine two weeks ago when we got her," he reminded Spencer.

She sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just worrying too much. I'm sure she'll be fine."

* * *

Spencer pet Pandora anxiously before the veterinarian, Dr. Keough, came back in. She examined the charts. She smiled at Spencer and Toby.

"So is everything fine with her?" Toby asked. He already knew Spencer was too apprehensive to even form a coherent sentence.

"Pandora is completely fine. But I did want to talk to you about a few things," she said before taking a seat next to the table where Pandora was standing. Toby somehow managed to pry Spencer away from Pandora and got her to sit down next to him, across the room from both of them. He squeezed her hand to remind her that she was fine. Spencer sighed.

"I wanted to talk to you about getting her spayed and some of her vaccines. The shelter you adopted Pandora from didn't have a veterinarian. By law, that means they weren't able to give her her rabies shot. I strongly suggest we get that taken care of right away. Then there are a few other important vaccines she should get, but they're not as important as getting the rabies shot. Finally, you should think about getting her spayed soon," Dr. Keough said before she stroked Pandora on the head.

Spencer felt a lump rising in her throat from nervousness. "Spayed?" she asked cautiously.

Dr. Keough nodded. "We recommend that all parents spay or neuter their pets. For females especially, it's a good idea to spay them. That way, none of you have to deal with the unpleasant things that come with a cat going through estrus."

Spencer and Toby were both confused.

"That's when a cat is in heat. When it's feeling…when the cat thinks it's time to reproduce and is rather eager to," she explained uneasily.

They both nodded. Dr. Keough continued. "Generally, it helps cats live longer and it's just better for the animal shelters. Let's say Pandora didn't get spayed. What if she encounters some feral cat and you decide you can't care for the whole litter. It overwhelms the shelters and there's a greater chance that the kittens will have to be euthanized," Dr. Keough told them. "That's why we recommend everyone who owns a cat, except for professional breeders, spays or neuters their animal."

"I think we should bring Pandora in as soon as possible," Toby said before taking a look at Spencer to make sure she was okay with it.

She nodded. "I think we should," she answered quietly.

"Great!" the vet exclaimed before looking again at Pandora's papers. "Well, she is already seven weeks old, so you can actually get her spayed as soon as next week. Would you like to schedule an appointment?"

Toby nodded. "Can we bring her in next week?"

Dr. Keough nodded. "You can bring her in next Saturday, if that works for you. The surgery doesn't take very long, but she'll have to go under anaesthesia. What happens is an incision is made below her belly button. Then, we can remove the reproductive track, ovaries, and uterus. She'll get stitched up and should be up and walking within ten to twenty minutes. But to be safe, we'll probably want to keep her overnight. With young cats, like Pandora, everything usually goes fine and she should be completely fine within ten days," she told them.

Spencer looked a bit upset upon learning that Pandora would have to stay overnight.

* * *

Spencer opened the carrier door to let Pandora out. Pandora pushed the cage door open and ran off to Spencer and Toby's room.

"Are you okay, Spence? You were silent the whole ride home," he noted.

She shrugged. Clearly, she wasn't fine. "I don't know. I'm just scared something might go wrong with Pandora's surgery," she said.

Toby rubbed her bare arms. "Spence, everything is going to go well. Pandora is a kitten. I don't think Dr. Keough would do anything she thought would put Pandora in any kind of serious harm or danger."

Spencer was silent. "I guess I'm just scared because…she's like my baby," she murmured. She was avoiding looking him in the eyes. He could tell there was something else bothering her.

"Is there something else that's bothering you?"

She sighed. "Can we go upstairs and talk about this?"

* * *

Pandora was playing with some sweaters in the closet as they both sat down on the bed.

"Spencer…you haven't said anything and we've been here for fifteen minutes," Toby informed her.

Spencer sighed. "What do you think about children? I known you weren't really being honest. I know how I feel about it, but…what about you?" she asked as she wiped away a stray tear. She looked at him expectantly.

He was silent for a few seconds. "I want children. I know you've seen me hold Cassidy and Chloe and I love having nieces. I know I would love them so much. But I also love you more than I've ever loved anyone else. And I don't want you to feel pressured to have a baby or anything like that. I'll wait until you're ready. I trust that we'll eventually get there. You're just not ready yet," he concluded.

She nodded in agreement. "I'm really glad we talked about this, Toby. And maybe…I think we're just settling into being married. I don't know if I'm ready to share you, yet," she said, a small smile on the corners of her lips.

He laughed. "Well, it seems I'm already sharing you with a cute little blonde," he replied before pulling her closer.

She smiled. "I'll be sure to tell Hanna you're feeling jealous of her," she teased before giving him a small peck on the lips.

She realized with certainty that this was all she really needed and wanted for now. She wasn't ready for her life to change yet again. At least, not yet.

* * *

**_tobyequalshottness: _**_I'm glad you liked it! And only Spencer. Pandora is so loved. And Hanna is just...I don't know what she was thinking about. Ooh, and you caught one of my plot points this story..._

**_AL3110:_**_I do not know what this is, but I love you too :) _

**_Sarah:_**_Thank you, Sarah :) Glad you're back. _

**_MizzIsTheFizz: _**_Yes, true, true (said the Sour Kangaroo). It's funny how at the last wedding, Spencer was the one flipping out about everything, but now she's cool as a cucumber. Thanks for reading!_

**_Guest: _**_Aww :) Thank you so much! That's very sweet. _

**_spobylover1237: _**_Thank you! I hope you liked this chapter :)_

**_ilovetobycavanaugh: _**_Thank you :) I'm really glad you like my writing and I hope you enjoy this threequel. _

**_Spobyforever259:_**_Well I've missed you on both of my stories! I'm glad you're finally back (though school is a bit hectic and unpredictable, so I won't count on you being consistent, but I do understand). Chloe and Cassidy will probably be the most spoiled children ever. But it's okay because they're as cute as teeny tiny buttons. And Pandora, of course. And I'm glad you caught the parallel between Begin Again and Everything Has Changed with Tiffany and Toby. Yes, I think that Spencer and Toby might just have kids in this threequel...I can't say when but...wait for it! And I know school can be a headache. Don't worry about me. School is way more important and I will probably be very overwhelmed with school next week (because ew, it's the start of the 4th quarter and teachers will probably start prepping us for the dreaded finals...well, everyone except for my Bio teacher, who doesn't teach us anything). And I don't mind the reviews thing very much. Though I would be curious to know what you think about the one-shot collections (since I believe you read them a while back). Though I totally don't except you to read every single one...there's like fifty something now and I know how school can get). But thanks for reviewing and I did miss you. _

**_Guest: _**_I'm glad you loved it :)_

_Okay, so as some of you may/may not know, today is my birthday (hooray). For my birthday, I'd like some feedback. It would be much appreciated and I love hearing from you guys. It's very wonderful and I love it. Or even a PM is good. PMs are fun. I just spent like thirty minutes responding to some PMs :)_

_I don't know when I'll get to update it next. I have some ideas for this story, but with the one-shots and some other things going on, you probably shouldn't expect daily updates like I got to do with BA and EHC. But I'll try not to abandon this story (I don't think you'll have to worry about that, but just in case). **-Kayson**_


	3. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note: **He's ba-ack!_

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Toby led Spencer out of the animal hospital. She looked sick.

"Are you okay?"

She made a face. "Toby, I think I'm about to throw up," she concluded.

"Pandora is going to be fine. She's strong like her mother is," he said with a smile.

She didn't look like she was pacified at all by that. "But she's just a little kitten! They don't…she wouldn't grow up _that _fast, would she? She…she wouldn't do that to us, would she?" she asked.

He couldn't help but laugh. "Spence, she's a cat. If she were to…I don't think that she'd know what she's doing and that she can get pregnant," he told her.

She crossed her arms. She wish there was some kind of cat birth control or something…she didn't want to make her cat undergo a surgery when she was barely two months old. "Are you sure it's not too late to—"

"Spencer."

She pouted. "Are you going to pick her up tomorrow? Because I don't think I can come back here," she said with a small pout.

He was about to protest, but realized it would probably be better if he kept his mouth shut. "Sure. I'll pick her up tomorrow if you're not comfortable with it."

* * *

"Spencer."

Spencer was a bit taken aback by Tiffany's stern tone. She wasn't used to Tiffany putting her foot down. "What?"

Tiffany was not amused. "Spencer, you can't just go meet your ex and not tell Toby. What if someone else tells him? What if _I _tell him?" she inquired.

Spencer frowned. "Tiff, you couldn't really do that, would you?"

"Toby is like a brother to me, Spencer. You can't just tell me this and expect me _not _to tell him. Especially knowing the way Andrew's sick mind works," she said with a small scoff.

"I'll tell him later tonight, when he brings Pandora home from the hospital," Spencer said. She paused. "I'm so nervous that Pandora—"

"Oh, don't go changing the subject on me, Spencer Hastings…Cavanaugh! Hastings-Cavanaugh," Tiffany corrected.

"Actually, I dropped Hastings entirely. It's just Cavanaugh," Spencer amended.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "That's not what we were talking about," she answered.

"I don't know why you're so concerned, Tiffany! It's Andrew. I set him up with Valeria already. Last I heard, they're actually dating and she's _not _just a surrogate. I think he's actually planning on doing it the old fashioned way," Spencer noted.

"Does it matter, Spencer? Secrets are secrets and sometimes lies, too! You literally got married less than two weeks ago and you're already keeping stuff from him."

"My God, Tiffany! People are allowed to keep secrets! It's not like I'm pregnant and not telling him. It's not like I'm having an affair!"

"Yeah, but it's only a matter of time before secrets add up. Lies breed more lies, Spencer!"

Spencer rolled her eyes. "You're being ridiculous. I don't even know why I told you. I wouldn't have if I knew you were going to flip out like this!"

* * *

Spencer was just deciding what she was going to eat when she saw two people walk up in her peripheral vision. She looked up to see Andrew with a woman. Valeria. The woman he chose as a surrogate.

She was just as beautiful, if not more stunning, in real life. It almost made Spencer…_jealous_. But then she shook away the feelings, recalling that she was now married.

She looked down at her engagement and wedding band. What Tiffany was saying to her earlier now began to bother her.

But Valeria and Andrew interrupted her reverie. They sat across from Spencer.

"Hi, I'm Spencer," Spencer said as she extended her hand to Valeria.

Valeria gave her a dazzling white smile. "Hi. I'm Valeria," she answered.

"It's nice to meet you," Spencer said softly. "I've heard a lot about you."

Valeria smiled. Spencer could tell it wasn't exactly sincere or warm. She couldn't help but wonder why.

"How are you, Spencer?" Andrew asked, breaking the awkward silence Spencer wasn't even aware filled the space between them.

"I'm fine." She wasn't too sure whether it was proper etiquette to tell your ex-fiancé about your honeymoon.

He nodded. The awkward silence filled the air again.

After more meaningless exchanges were given, Andrew excused himself to pick up a business call. Both Spencer and Valeria saw him off and were left quiet and unsure of what to say.

"So have you and Andrew pursued the surrogacy yet?" Spencer asked.

Valeria looked confused. "How did you—"

"Oh! I assumed Andrew had told you. I went with him to the agency to help him with the whole thing. I am…was a friend of his. I don't really know where we stand now. We haven't spoken in a while," Spencer explained uncomfortably.

Valeria nodded, trying to understand. "He never told me. I mean, he's mentioned you a few times before."

Spencer felt a bit uncomfortable. But she just had to ask. "Did he ever say anything else about me?" she inquired curiously.

"No." Spencer could tell that Valeria was getting an uneasy feeling about him.

"Andrew is…"

She wasn't sure if telling Valeria would be some kind of betrayal. She could always tell him that she just slipped up and didn't realize she didn't know. That would work, right?

"We were engaged. Obviously, we're not anymore. And I'm glad that he found you. We found you, I guess."

Valeria looked really taken aback and uneasy about this whole thing. "Engaged?"

"I swear, that's all in the past. I'm married now, if that makes you feel better," Spencer said, trying to soothe her. She picked up her drink, unknowingly flashing her diamond engagement ring and wedding band.

She swore she heard Valeria breathe a small sigh of relief. "So you're married?" she asked for confirmation.

Spencer nodded with a smile. "Yes, and I'm very happy. I know what you were thinking. Or at least, I think I do. And I'm happy for both of you," she answered with a sincere smile.

Valeria had to smile at that.

* * *

Tiffany let out a heavy sigh of frustration as she paced back and forth around her house.

"I mean…how am I supposed to just _not _tell Toby about what Spencer is doing? I feel like if the situation was reversed and you told him that you were going to meet some girl you used to sleep with and…I would want him to tell me. I mean, you would want him to tell you, right?"

She looked at her husband, who was too busy cradling their daughter at the moment to even notice.

"Shane! I know Chloe is adorable, but could you at least _pretend _to listen to my rant here?" she asked.

He shook out of it. "Sorry, what was that?"

Tiffany sighed and rolled her eyes before sitting down next to him.

"I think you should wait a day or two before you say anything to either of them. If in like two or three days, it seems like he still doesn't know, you should talk to Spencer about it and see if she told him. And if in like a week or so, he still doesn't seem to know, maybe you should talk to him yourself."

Tiffany thought about that in silence for a moment. Finally, she kissed her husband on the cheek. "You're really great at giving advice. Has anyone ever told you that?"

He just smiled at her before looking down at their sleeping daughter.

"She has your eyes, you know?" she asked as she looked at her.

"She's asleep. You can't see her eyes."

She shrugged. "But I just know."

* * *

Toby walked in carrying a cat carrier, which Pandora was obviously in. Spencer practically jumped up from her seat to see her. Toby put the carrier on the floor before letting Pandora out. Pandora was still stumbling a bit, almost as if she was drunk. The sight was almost comical to Toby, who the vet had explained everything to.

"Toby! Why are you laughing? She's probably in a lot of pain!" Spencer scolded as she looked at Pandora. She was very hesitant to even get too close to Pandora, knowing they had cut open her abdomen.

"Dr. Keough told me that it's nothing to worry about and it happens to most dogs and cats when they get spayed or neutered. When they give them the sedative and they go under general anaesthesia, they get a shot. It usually takes a bit for the effects to completely go away. It helps them deal with the pain."

Spencer frowned at the mere thought of her Pandora in pain.

"But she did tell me about something else," Toby said.

Spencer looked up at him in concern. She was truly scared about something going wrong with Pandora's surgery or Pandora having some rare, untreatable feline condition or something extremely melodramatic like that.

"She talked to me about the animal shelter. She said that she was asked by people who run the shelter to ask…she wanted to know if we knew anyone interested in fostering some animals," he told her.

She thought about that for a moment. "Foster the animals?"

"I told her we might know some people," he hinted at.

Spencer thought some more. "What exactly do you do?"

"We would just have to take care of the animals while they're getting ready to be adopted. We would probably take the kittens and the puppies that are still too young to be adopted out and still need some supervision—"

Spencer could've swooned.

"—or help some of the senior animals that need extra help—"

Spencer felt her heart melt a bit at the thought.

"—or maybe even take care of a pregnant dog or cat. She said that it's really a shame how many impregnated stray dogs and cats are brought there. And it's even worse that a lot of the puppies and kittens and mothers have to be euthanized anyway," he explained.

Spencer pouted. "Wait, so what did you say to her?"

"I said that we would ask around and see if anyone wanted to do it," he answered.

She thought for a moment. "Are you—"

"Yeah, I'm thinking about it."

Spencer thought some more before she looked at her stumbling baby. "But with Pandora—"

"I told her that some of my friends have cats. Apparently there's a whole selection pool or criteria or something before a pet gets placed in your home. If there's a pet that can't stay with a kitten, there are several more animals that can and will be placed here," he explained. "But I wanted to ask you about it before I said anything to her."

Spencer smiled. "That's really sweet," she said before giving him a small kiss. "You should tell her yes. I would quit my own job if we were able to do this and the animals needed someone to stay home with them. I would be so happy to do this."

* * *

**_MizzIsTheFizz: _**_Yes, you should definitely read the prequels to figure out what's going on! I could describe it, but it's just not the same. And thanks!_

**_Guest:_**_Thank you so much! My birthday was definitely fun (ooh, I forgot what that word even meant). And I'm really glad you like the Red universe, BUT I promise this is the last story in that AU. No more after this (though this story will be longer than the rest, considering it will be 6 [OMG] parts instead of 3 as per usual). And I love Pandora's relationship with both Spencer and Toby! She's as close as they're going to get to having a baby, for now. And she's like my baby. I've been told Pandora has her own fandom! I've already gotten requests to add in a Pandora romance, which I thought was pretty funny. _

**_Sarah:_**_Well, right now...I think they've only been married about a month. They got married at the end of September. Now I think it's around the middle of October or somewhere around there. I'd probably say middle/end of October, so yes, about a month. And then they will have been together now for...almost three years. Wow. _

**_AL3110:_**_Nope, sorry, AL. I don't like the Beatles. Oops. #SorryNotSorry. But Lana is still amazing. And I'll still love you when you're old and ugly (as mean as it might sound). Because I will always be older and uglier than you. _

**_spobylover1237:_**_We need a ship name for Spencer and Pandora. Spandora? No? I like it. _

**_tobyequalshottness: _**_It'll happen...eventually. I can't tell you which part or when, but they'll have a baby. I promise :)_

**_arubagirl0926:_**_I can try, but honestly, I'm not going to cover all the pertinent details and even if I do, I don't think you'll quite understand after I've explained it all. I'll provide a small summary for all the people who are reading this & haven't read the prequels. _

**_Spobyforever259:_**_I know! I'm already counting down the days (40 days of actual school left for me). Aww, and I'm glad my writing is that soothing because this hiatus is about as painful as sugar withdrawal. To be honest, I got that from Keegan and his cat Minin. He takes a bunch of pictures of Minin and I've seen some pictures of Minin wrapped around Keegan's neck and it's so cute. #Handora and #Spandora are the best. And I guess Pandora/Toby are #Tandora. Too many ship names. Pandora is just about as shippable as her mommy. _

**_ilovetobycavanaugh: _**_Aww, that's so sweet. I'm glad you liked it._

_Alright, the brief (and I mean **brief **summaries of the prequels):_

**_Begin Again:_**_Spencer and Andrew are engaged. Andrew is an a**hole who abuses Spencer (like, mentally and he's hit her). OH, and he cheats on her. Hanna is friends with Emily, Toby, Caleb, and Jason AND also Spencer and Aria. Hanna introduces Spencer to Emily (who she thought was Toby's girlfriend). They all meet at a bar. Aria gets extremely drunk and sleeps with Jason (and gets preggers), Hanna gets pretend-drunk and starts hitting on Caleb, and Spencer and Toby act as designated drivers. Blah blah blah stuff happens and everyone is together but Spencer and Toby. Toby realizes he likes Spencer, but Spencer's fed up with all the stuff surrounding her fiancé, and follows him on a business trip to Paris. Toby (being crazy) follows her to Paris (the city of love...j'adore. No?) and tells her about Andrew and Spencer sees it firsthand. She's really sad, throws her ring at his French whore, and runs away and she and Toby kiss (well he kisses her) and then she gets really sad because OOOH PLOT TWIST SHE'S PREGGERS TOO OOO KILL EM. That was lame. Anyway, moving on, some months later, Spencer's sad. Aria has the baby named Cassidy and she's kind of-sort of seeing Jason, but focusing on the baby. Anyway, Spencer's sad because she had the baby and he died. So she's depressed and Toby finally sees her and learns that she was pregnant. Awkward stuff happens and Spencer FINALLY admits she loves Toby and smoochy smoochy stuff happens. Tiffany gets married. The end. _

**_Everything Has Changed: _**_Spencer and Toby are together now and happy. They even have sex and move in together. Good times. But wait! That's not all. Andrew comes back to screw things up. Somehow, he found out about his son and now wants to make a baby with Spencer. But Spencer doesn't want to. But wait! There's more! Toby's ex (who he was planning to propose to) comes back and she wants Toby back. And she's also kind of psycho and reveals that she tried to get pregnant without Toby's consent. And...more stuff happens that I can't even remember and eventually all the bad guys go away and Spencer and Toby get a kitty cat and get married Yay!_

_Ha ha ha ha. You guys thought I was done with Andrew. You thought he was goooooone. He's not. _

_Umm...I've already finished the next three chapters, but I kind of want to pace myself because I (for some odd reason) feel like writing will not be made easy in this last quarter of high school. I mean, finals, schoolwork, life, oh my! Not fun. My teachers really love piling on the tests and quizzes. And Latin is actually getting kind of hard. And Spanish is actually hard. And now I actually have to study..._

_Until next time! Bye! **-Kayson**_


	4. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: **So I had to do some Elf on the Shelf thing which I still don't understand. IDK, but my cousin got a very Christmas-y looking ribbon and bow on her chair and that's the best we can do in five minutes..._

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Spencer pouted as she heard Pandora cry out. She reached out to pet Pandora, who started rubbing her nose against Spencer's fingers. Clearly, she wanted to be comforted.

"I know you're in pain, but it'll get better. I promise," Spencer insisted.

Pandora groaned again. She rolled onto her back, not wanting the laceration on her stomach to be irritated or touched in any kind of way.

"How do you feel about a foster brother or sister?" she asked absentmindedly.

Pandora stopped her soft steady purr to stare at Spencer. It was like she knew exactly what Spencer was saying.

"No?" Spencer inquired nervously.

Pandora nudged her to persuade her to keep petting her. Spencer complied. The more she thought about fostering, however, the more she wanted to do it.

* * *

Spencer found herself getting more and more anxious about potentially fostering an animal the more she thought of Pandora.

The volunteer came back with an application. She was a tall dirty-blonde. Her long hair was put up in a loose, messy bun. But she still looked pretty. She handed the application to Spencer and Toby.

"This application is kind of long. I don't know if you want to sit here and fill it out, but you can bring it back whenever and the shelter director will look over your application for fostering. But I'm sure you'll get the application, especially since you said you adopted a cat here not too long ago?"

Toby took the application and began looking it over. Spencer nodded with a smile.

"Is the fact that we have a kitten in the house going to be a problem?" she asked as Toby furrowed his eyebrows at some of the questions on the application.

The woman thought it over for a moment before shaking her head. "Um…I don't think so. If she's rambunctious, maybe, but for the most part, it shouldn't be a problem for most different types of animals, and there's so many pets in the shelter that I'm sure you'll have no problem finding a suitable foster," the girl insisted.

"Just out of curiosity, what are some different kinds of foster animals?"

She thought. "Pregnant cats and dogs are probably the biggest concern for us. There are some bottle babies that we can't always keep an eye on, nursing mothers, puppies who need training, and then some animals—mostly dogs—who have kennel shock and need to be in a calmer environment. Oh, and then there are some blind and deaf animals or animals with a medical condition that can't be properly cared for in a shelter. But if you and your husband have full-time jobs and can't be home at all times to care for an animal with a health condition, I suggest you check off the box which says you're unprepared to care for an animal who needs a lot of medical attention at all times," she said, peering over the application Toby was beginning to work on.

Spencer looked back at the application Toby was beginning to write. She turned back to the woman. "Well, we're going to look it over."

The woman nodded. "Sure. No problem. Bring it back whenever you'd like."

Spencer nodded. The girl was quiet for a minute before piping up.

"There's a bunch of animals we're looking for a home for right now. Would you like to meet some of them, just so you can get a sense of what some of them need?" she asked.

Spencer gave Toby a pleading look before he nodded. "Sure."

The woman led them to a wing of the shelter with a bunch of big…cells. That was all Spencer could really say to describe them. They were like prison cells for the poor animals. There were some dogs and cats crying and scratching to get out. Spencer felt her heart breaking for them.

"The poor animals usually can't stay with all of the other cats and dogs. A lot of them just can't stay here because they're rescues and being in cages just reminds them of the time they were abused, even if we're caring for them," the volunteer commented sadly. She opened up one of the cages with a white pitbull. As the dog walked out, it became apparent that she was pregnant.

The girl quickly crouched down to pet her. "This is Delilah. She was brought here about a week ago. She's maybe six weeks along with a litter of puppies. We actually just found a potential home for her when she whelps her puppies, which should be in about a week," she explained as the pitbull gave her a few kisses. "We like to give pregnant cats and dogs to foster families because it's a lot more peaceful and less stressful in a home environment than here in the shelter."

Spencer bit her lip as she looked at Delilah again.

* * *

"Call me crazy but…I think my cake is better than Spencer's," Hanna sing-songed as she continued to frost her cake for Cassidy with little pink, purple, and blue flowers. It _did _look professionally made, if Hanna said so herself.

"Wow. That's actually a very nice cake, Hanna," Aria commented as she walked in with Cassidy on her hip. Cassidy nodded in agreement, her eyes getting wide at the little flowers and the white icing.

"Well, as long as our little bumblebee is happy," Hanna said before tilting Cassidy's head up to look at her hazel eyes, "_I'm _happy."

Cassidy smiled timidly before Hanna gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"When is everyone else coming over?" Hanna asked as she put some finishing touches on the cake.

Aria thought about it. "Well…Caleb came with you. I don't know where he and Jason went. Tiffany, Shane, and Chloe are supposed to be here soon. So is Emily. I know Spencer and Toby wanted to go to the animal shelter today, so Spence said they might be a little late," Aria said as she fixed Cassidy's dress.

Hanna was surprised. Spencer really hadn't told her about going to the animal shelter. "Spencer didn't tell me. Is she adopting a brother or sister for Pandora?" she inquired.

Aria shrugged before putting Cassidy down. "I don't really know. She didn't say. She just told me that they were going and didn't know how long they'd be. But it reminds me that Jason and I need to take Bor to the vet soon. We keep putting it off, but he needs to get neutered."

Hanna winced. "Isn't that when they—"

"Yes."

She made a face. "But he's only a kitten. Isn't he still kind of…immature for that?" she inquired.

"I really don't want him causing any trouble, and Spencer told me that a male cat getting…unsexed…takes about fifteen minutes, according to her vet. And it doesn't even hurt. I think they make one or two small incisions and that's about it. I don't even know if he'll have to really get anaesthesia," she said.

Hanna shrugged. She still felt weird thinking about this.

Hanna put the cake aside. She took the bowl which the light green cream cheese icing was mixed in and dipped her finger in. She licked the icing off her index finger and pushed the bowl towards Aria.

"I'd better not," Aria said before pushing it back to Hanna.

Hanna raised an eyebrow. "It'll take the edge off," she replied enticingly before giving it back to Aria.

Aria looked at the bowl with yearning before finally giving into temptation.

As Aria was licking up the icing in the bowl, more people walked into the room. Aria was caught with icing on the side of her face.

Spencer and Emily stared at her while Hanna greeted Toby with a hug. Aria shamefully wiped some icing off her cheek.

"You've hit rock bottom."

Aria took a tiny breath. "I know."

Spencer handed Aria the giant box she had brought over.

"Did I ever tell you that you and your husband spoil my daughter?" she said as she looked at the size of the box, which was easily bigger than Cassidy herself.

"It's our job, Aria. Did you forget we're her _godparents_?" Spencer asked with a smile. She never tired of using the title in relation to Cassidy.

Aria had to smile at that before she hugged Spencer. Then she turned to Emily. "You look a bit more glum than usual," she commented.

Emily shrugged with a small sigh. "Just…same old, same old. I don't know. I've been a bit…" she trailed off before handing Aria her present for Cassidy.

"Toby? Help Aria?" Spencer asked when she saw that both boxes were probably bigger than the petite brunette.

Toby quickly took the boxes from Aria. Aria led him to the living room where he could put them with Jason and Aria's presents for their daughter.

"What's wrong, Emily?" Hanna asked with a concerned look in her blue eyes.

She shrugged. "I just…is there something wrong with me?" she asked.

Spencer shook her head profusely, as did Hanna. "Why would you say that, Em?" Spencer asked.

"I just feel really lonely. I haven't gone on a second date in almost four years and I'm going to be thirty soon. I feel like I need to start dating or I'll never have a family and…I want a family," she confessed.

Hanna rubbed her on the back. "Hey, Emily? You don't need another girl or a wife to start a family. You can do whatever you want to do on your own," she insisted.

"Yeah, and we're always going to be here. You know that, right?"

Emily looked at Spencer for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

"Auntie Spencer! Auntie Hanna!" Cassidy called from the living room as Spencer and Hanna helped Aria clean in the kitchen.

Aria smiled at them. "You go. I can finish. It's just drying plates now," she insisted.

Spencer and Hanna quickly went to the living room to see what was going on with Cassidy. She was playing with a few dolls she had gotten and the cute dollhouse Toby had built for her. She was brushing the hair on one of her dolls.

"Cass? Did you want to tell us something?" Hanna asked as she scrutinized Toby's work on the dollhouse.

She nodded. "I wanted to ask you something," she said before she put the doll in the dollhouse. She turned to face them. Spencer had to stifle a laugh. She wondered if Cassidy took a page from Aria's book on confrontations. She looked so much like her mother at this point. "Am I going to have any new cousins soon?" she asked, trying to contain her excitement.

Both Spencer and Hanna were speechless. They didn't think Cassidy would ask a question like that. Aria, sure, but…maybe Cassidy was borrowing a few pages from her mother's book.

"Why do you say that?"

Cassidy shrugged. "Mommy says that babies are born when a boy and a girl _really _like each other. And Auntie Spencer and Uncle Toby are always—"

"Cassidy!" Spencer exclaimed. The little girl smiled mischievously.

Hanna looked at Spencer with surprise. She couldn't believe what Cassidy was saying.

"And Mommy said that you really like Caleb, Auntie Hanna," Cassidy said.

Hanna nodded. "Your mommy is right; I do really like him, but usually a boy and a girl don't have a baby until they both know they're ready. Even if sometimes it's unexpected, like you. But you were the best surprise ever, right?" she asked.

Cassidy started laughing and she nodded. "Auntie Spencer?"

She was still waiting for a well-thought out explanation from Spencer. Spencer sighed. This girl had everyone wrapped around her little fingers.

"Well, Auntie Spencer and Uncle Toby just aren't ready to have a baby yet. And besides, we get to spoil you for now, until we do have a baby of our own," Spencer explained before giving Cassidy a hug. Cassidy hugged her back.

* * *

_So Cassidy was adorable and basically the voice of you guys right about now. Adorable. And she's three now. Freaking three. She surpassed the terrible twos and she's as cute as a little gumdrop. _

_Oh, and I have a question. I don't know, I'm just curious. What do you guys think Cassidy DiLaurentis's middle name be?_

**_Sarah: _**_I don't know if I'm really supposed to tell (but whatever; it's my fanfic), but yes, they will **eventually **have children. I think that (along with Spanna), a new crackship of mine is Spencer+pets because it's really precious. Just wait and see. I have a lot planned. Yes, I'm ambitious. And I deeply hate studying for tests and exams, as well. We can hate them together. And I'm concerned with all the classes aside from my language ones (so English, Spanish, and Latin are the ones I'm like absolutely positive I'm going to pass with A's). Math, Bio, and History are going to be the death of me. Even if I do so happen to enjoy learning about stuff in history. Ugh, which reminds me, I have to write propaganda in support of myself. Ideas?_

**_spobylover1237: _**_#Spandora is my ship. _

**_tobyequalshottness:_**_The truth always comes out. And I agree; lies breed more lies. But it'll all come out eventually. And no, thankfully, I can say that I have never had the pleasure of untangling spaghetti. :)_

**_ilovetobycavanaugh: _**_I respond to all of my reviews :) If you ever have a question about anything, just ask, because I always respond (unless for some odd reason I am lacking the time to respond or I don't see your review). _

**_arubagirl0926:_**_Thank you. I try :)_

**_AL3110:_**_Stop reading my mind from Denmark! You'll see ;) You just have to be patient, AL! I don't like the Beatles that much and I really don't like needles. IDK what to tell you. Um...I'm not going to comment on that. _

**_MizzIsTheFizz:_**_Well, I don't think Andrew is going to interfere very much. Unless later on in the story I really have nothing better to do except throw a wrench in Spoby, but I have some ideas on what to do for the next few parts. _

**_Spobyforever259:_**_I love Minin Allen and Sheila Michele and Brian Colfer. They're just the best celebrity cats ever. Nah, I don't think we have to worry about Andrew interfering with Spoby. As for Spencer interfering with Anderia...I don't know...things could get messy. But I like Anderia. Maybe I'll keep them. And I don't know what to do about Chanel...since I think it's safe to assume she's still lurking in the Philly/Rosewood area. I think Shane is like the voice of reason and kind of keeps Tiffany grounded and they are kind of based off a couple in this project I am working on with these two characters whose names I will not disclose. In my project, they kind of are like the Spencer and Toby/hate to love kind of relationship in it, which is an interesting dynamic for me to write for (and I've explored it a lot in the one-shots I've posted recently). Tiffany is kind of headstrong and Shane is a lot more reserved and thinks before he speaks whereas sometimes Tiffany kind of puts her foot in her mouth. I kind of like that opposites-attract kind of relationship. Obvi, I love Spoby. _

**_vondydora: _**_I think I've basically established that Spencer's decisions aren't always sound in this AU (and if it's not apparent by now, she makes some bad decisions), but I think things will work themselves out. I don't really think that she really sees it as going behind Toby's back to visit Andrew. I guess that she just thinks it's not necessary to make him jump to conclusions or get concerned about Andrew when it really doesn't matter that much to her. As for Tiffany and Toby, I think they're two totally different people. I'd say Shane and Toby have more in common than Tiffany and Toby (which is probably what makes them such good friends). Shane and Toby are both less concerned (in my opinion) with another guy coming in. I mean, Andrew and Spencer have history, which probably upsets Toby (don't get me wrong), but I don't think that either of them would get overly jealous or concerned as maybe Spencer and Tiffany would. And it's great to have you back! I always like reading your reviews. _

_So spoilers: the next chappie is about coffee and babies and more babies and babies talking about babies and tw: abuse and Spelissa and Spoby+Melissa and Mrs. Hastings and fluffy blankies. I'm all spoiler'd out. _

_So...I don't know what to say. Oh, yes I do. My cousin's friends make a PLL podcast on YouTube on their channel which is ASOTV (as seen on tv). They've reached out to me and asked me to support their channel and their PLL podcasts since I have a lot of readers. So please support my cousin and his friends and watch their PLL videos. It would mean a lot of me and a whole lot to them and maybe you guys could give them some feedback. I know they'd appreciate it. _

_Thanks for reading! Bye! **-Kayson**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: **I think that in this chapter, you are introduced to a character who will become quite important in this leg/the first few sections of the book. I have no idea where my muse for her went, though...I miss her. _

* * *

**Chapter Four**

The next Saturday morning, Spencer was lying in bed, thinking. It was like she couldn't stop thinking about what Cassidy had said for the entire week. And she still couldn't get it off her mind.

"Spence? Are you up?" Toby asked quietly as he walked into their bedroom with two cups of coffee.

Spencer sat up and yawned. Toby brought the coffee over to her. She took a sip and placed it back on the coffee table. "Wow, I seem to have rubbed off on you. Your coffee is strong like mine," she commented with a smile. She looked at his cup and was shocked. "_And _you don't use any cream or sugar anymore?"

He shrugged. "What can I say? You've changed me," he joked before putting it down.

She laughed. "Come here, you sap," she teased. She settled into his arms and sighed. "You know when we were at Aria's and Jason's house for Cassidy's birthday? And Hanna and I helped Aria clean up after?"

"Yeah…?" he answered cautiously.

"Cassidy wanted to talk to me and Hanna afterwards and you'll never guess what she wanted to talk about."

"What did she say?" he asked curiously.

She began to laugh a little when she thought about it. "She…she asked me when she was going to have a cousin. And then she asked if you and I were going to have a child soon."

"And what did you say?"

"I said that we weren't ready to have a baby yet, so we would spoil her for the time being," she answered.

Before he could reply, it was brought to their attention that Pandora had found her way onto their bed. She began to nudge Toby. Spencer picked her up and began to pet her while holding her like a baby.

"She's the only baby I'm ready to have at the moment," she told him before kissing Pandora lightly on the head. Pandora meowed in response.

"What about the puppy you're picking up today and bringing home?" he inquired.

"I promise I won't fall in love with it _too _much. We're going to pick him up, take care of him, and then give him up to his forever home," she assured him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Forever home?"

"That's what they call it, Toby," she told him.

"Okay," he said with a small laugh.

She rolled her eyes. "You're very mature," she replied sarcastically before getting up with Pandora and putting her down on the floor. Pandora trotted into the closet.

"What? Did I make you both mad?"

* * *

"Okay, so I've been looking for the perfect dog for you, and I think I finally have him. He's a little Siberian Husky with a black and white coat. He's really sweet, but I figured he'd be good for you, especially when learning to be around other animals. But you also put in your application that you have a big yard with a park right by your house, so you just seemed like the perfect candidate for him," the volunteer said to Spencer. She pushed back a lock of her dirty blonde hair before looking over the application for the thousandth time. "Why don't you follow me to go meet him?" she asked with a small smile.

Spencer nodded before following her to the back room. There were a bunch of puppies jumping up and down to the sight of a new visitor. Spencer sort of wished she could take them all home with her and help them find forever homes.

Finally, they reached the penultimate cage in one row. The volunteer opened it and crouched down to greet its inhabitant. A black and white Siberian Husky with piercing blue eyes ran out to greet her. He began to lick her on the face and the girl started laughing.

"As you can see, he's very friendly. He's only five weeks old, so he's still small. This is Mason. He was brought here maybe a week ago by someone who found him tied up to a lamp post," she said sadly as she pet the smiling puppy. She gave him one final pat on the back before standing up. "So now I need to give you some papers and give you a little more information before you can take him home, okay?"

Spencer nodded eagerly as she looked at Mason, who was smiling without a care in the world.

The girl (with the puppy trailing behind her) led Spencer to a separate little room. Mason took right to the toys laid out for him there. The girl sat behind a desk and Spencer sat opposite from her. She printed out a few things and handed them to Spencer.

"So we've put Mason's picture in the local newspaper and we've already gotten some responses. I don't think Mason will take very long to adopt, so I don't think he'll be in your care for too long. But he is a little bit scared of some other dogs," she commented as she watched the puppy play with a ball, his tail wagging in delight.

"So should I keep him around my cat at all?" Spencer asked with a whisper of a smile on her face.

"Maybe wait a few days before introducing Pandora to him," the girl said as she rearranged her papers. She handed them over to Spencer. "Here is all of his information. You have a bed, toys, and food for him, right?" she asked.

Spencer nodded as she looked at the paper. "I got the special puppy dog food the volunteer who was here yesterday told me to get. He has a bed in the guest bedroom, which also has a bunch of toys for him," she replied.

The girl smiled. "Good. You seem to be really well prepared for a first time parent. And off the record, my contact information is on the bottom, so if you need any help or have any questions, don't hesitate to call me."

"Thank you," Spencer said as the girl grabbed a carrier for Mason.

"Come on, boy!" she called before putting a leash on the dog. "He's going to get huge, so you can put him in the carrier for now, but you'll probably eventually just have to bring him back in his leash," she said. "And I'm Natalie, by the way," she said finally.

* * *

Toby walked in to see Spencer playing with the new puppy. He was wagging his tail happily as Spencer waved a toy in his face.

"Toby!"

The puppy barked. He hadn't taken notice of Toby yet.

"Is this our new friend?"

Mason turned around and finally noticed Toby. He looked a little bit scared. He nudged closer to Spencer and began to whine a little bit.

"My new friend, at least," Spencer said before picking up the five week-old puppy in her arms. "It's okay, Mason. I promise that he's really nice," she whispered into his still-floppy ears.

Toby sat on the floor in front of them and held out his hand to Mason. Mason (very reluctantly) sniffed him. Toby then went a step further and began to pet him. Mason was still a bit reluctant and pulled away.

Spencer was a bit confused. "She acted perfectly fine with me and Natalie, the volunteer we met there," she said. She was a little discouraged. She hoped that Mason could form some sort of bond with Toby. "I wonder what happened."

"Did Natalie tell you anything about why Mason was there?"

Spencer frowned. "She said someone brought him in after finding him tied up. It sounded pretty awful, so I didn't ask for any more details. And she said he was a bit…anxious around the other dogs."

After a few moments of calming him down and stroking him gently, she thought of something. "I have an idea. Come here, Toby," she said softly. "Maybe if he sees me with you, he'll be a little less scared. I mean…he seems to like me," she commented.

He laughed slightly. It was a bittersweet laugh. "Please, Spencer. He loves you already."

She could feel that little bit of longing in his tone. She put Mason down and Mason walked away from the two of them, especially away from Toby.

"Just hug me."

She hugged him and looked at Mason's reaction. Mason's tail was shaking. He started barking, but he was still shaking like a little Chihuahua.

"Is he getting…_protective _over me?" she asked. "Come here, Mason!" she called.

Mason stood still. He was still shaking and extremely scared to go anywhere near Toby. "Come here, boy!" she coaxed, her voice as sweet as she could possibly make it. Mason finally walked into her arms. She could feel just how much he was shaking.

Spencer stood up and held him, petting him very sweetly. She turned towards Toby. "Okay, try again," she said to him.

"I promise I won't hurt you," Toby said reassuringly before petting him. Mason whined a little at his touch, but as Toby began to pet him some more, he grew a little less timid. But he looked at Spencer anxiously.

"I promise that he's one giant teddy bear, Mason. He won't hurt you at all," she assured him. His little floppy ears stood a little taller, perking up at the sound of her voice. "He helped me after somebody hurt me, too."

Even though she was talking to Mason, she was looking at Toby.

They looked at each other for a long moment before she took a deep breath. "I was supposed to go to Melissa's baby shower tonight, but being as he's still not comfortable—"

"No, you need to go to her baby shower," he insisted. "She's your only sister. And that's going to be your niece."

"But Toby—"

"I'll take really good care of Mason," he promised. "Besides, the sooner he gets less scared of me, the more desensitized he'll be with his new owners."

* * *

Spencer was walking in her parents' huge house and could not have felt more out of place, even if it was the place she grew up in. Actually, more she thought about it, she _always _felt out of place in that house.

"Spencer!"

She saw her mother approach her with open arms. She didn't see Melissa anywhere.

"Hi, Mom," she said, reciprocating her hug. Gee, if only she had more of those when she was growing up. "Where's Melissa?"

"Everyone is in the barn. I was just coming in to get Melissa's present," she explained.

"Oh," was all Spencer could say. She wondered just how extravagant the present her mother got for her first grandchild was.

"What did you get her?" her mother inquired.

"I…um…"

She wasn't quite sure how to respond. She had gone to the store Melissa had registered at, but wasn't quite sure what to get her. She came home empty handed, and when Toby learned of where she had gone, he insisted on making a rocking chair for Melissa. She remembered how holding Cassidy while rocking in a rocking chair was the only way Aria got her to go to sleep for the first few months.

The only problem was that he started making it only a week ago. All he really had left to do was put a few finishing touches, paint it, and then coat it with a finish. In the meantime, all Spencer had gotten for Melissa was this very soft, hand-knitted blanket she had found in a small shop on the outskirts of Rosewood. Aria had almost bought it, but recalled that she had a similar one at home already.

"I got her this pretty blanket. But Toby and I had another present for her. He just has to finish making it," she told her a bit self-consciously.

"Oh."

It was pretty clear her mother wasn't all that impressed, not that it was surprising to Spencer. It was more frustrating than anything. Spencer hoped Melissa would appreciate it a little more. But then again…the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

* * *

"You're going to be really nice to Mason when you meet him, _right_, Pandora?" Toby asked as he stared at the small kitten. She didn't look very impressed as she sat curled up in their bed. "You're lucky you're cute," he concluded before exiting the room.

He walked downstairs and down the hall to the room they had agreed would be the room for the foster animals…for the time being, at least.

He opened the door to see Mason rolling around with some toys. He saw Toby and instantly became a bit anxious.

"What happened to you?" he asked softly, sitting down on the floor, trying to show Mason that he posed no threat. "Why are you so scared of me?" he asked.

The puppy stayed in the same position. Toby glanced at the time. "Spencer told me to feed you again at a quarter after seven," he commented absentmindedly. "Are you going to let me feed you?"

The puppy's piercing blue eyes looked filled with anguish and fright.

"I'm going to go get the formula she left me for you."

He wondered why he was talking to a puppy who likely couldn't understand him as he prepared the formula.

He brought it back into the room where Mason was. He was still sitting in the corner with the same scared look in his eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he promised as he inched closer to the puppy. He had to pet Mason and make him a little less tense before he could pick him up to bottle-feed him.

Mason very reluctantly began to drink from the bottle.

"You're just feeding him now?"

Toby turned and saw Spencer standing there. She was still wearing her jacket and had her shoes on.

He glanced at the clock and realized it was already eight. But still…the baby shower started at 6:30. She couldn't have stayed for very long.

"I've been trying to get him to eat this whole time. It took some coaxing to get him to relax," he said. It wasn't too easy to believe him, seeing as Mason was now happily sucking at the bottle.

Spencer smiled as she walked over to them and began to stroke him. "He's adorable," she commented.

"What happened to you? Why are you back to early?" he asked.

"It was kind of a mess. How soon do you think that rocking chair can be done?" she asked.

"I can have it done by…Wednesday, probably," he said after thinking. "Why?"

She sighed. "Everyone got Melissa really expensive gifts and all I had for her was a blanket. I told her I had another present for her but it wasn't ready," she said as she continued to pet the puppy. Mason had finished the bottle and Spencer put it aside.

"What did she say about that?"

Spencer thought about it for a moment. "She said she couldn't wait to see it, but I couldn't help but feel everyone else judging me for not bringing her gift or having it ready."

"As long as Melissa doesn't care, you shouldn't care, Spence. And I'm sure it's much better than everyone else's gifts," he promised before he put Mason down. Mason allowed him to pet him some more.

She couldn't help but laugh. "Are you saying that because you're the one who made the gift?" she inquired with a small smile.

He nodded. "And I'm not ashamed to admit that it's amazing."

That made her laugh some more. "Well, aren't you modest? Will you build me something?" she questioned. "Since, apparently, your creations are _amazing_."

"They are. And I really think Melissa will like her gift."

She nodded as she continued to pet Mason, who was quite happy to see her.

* * *

_**MizzIsTheFizz: **I actually really like the middle name Amelia! It sounds like something I could picture both Jason AND Aria naming their child. And Cassidy Amelia DiLaurentis has a nice ring to it. Thanks for the feedback!_

**_AL3110: _**_Well...I don't really want to corrupt Pandora's innocence. She's still a baby. And...this conversation just got really weird. _

**_Sarah:_**_If it were up to me, I'd stop the class consisting of mental abuse to humans, otherwise known as MATH. And yes, Spencer would make such a great mother (seeing as she's such a great aunt to Cassidy/mommy and foster mommy to Pandora and Mason). But she's not ready...not just yet. _

**_tobyequalshottness: _**_I was not aware when I created Pandora and Cassidy that I would be making the most beloved, adorable characters ever. So I'm glad you love her :)_

**_arubagirl0926:_**_I'm glad you like the talk of babies and I'm glad you think she's cute. _

**_ilovetobycavanaugh: _**_To be completely honest, I have no idea how I started with fanfiction. An idea just came up and I wrote it down. That turned into a multi-chapter, twisty, angsty story. I really can't help at all with any ideas. Maybe find two books or movies or maybe even more and combine the ideas to make something cool and unique? I know my first story was like a cross of PLL at its finest and then some fanfictions I read about a Spoby child. And my second one was really a take on a very popular trope, so it's not too unique. When you get the idea (if you do multi-chapter) I STRONGLY ADVISE you plan out everything you're going to write and maybe even keep a whole document on the characters (like if it's not canon, maybe a little bio/facts about your character) and especially any original characters. It just makes everything more continuous and accurate. Lastly, one thing which I find to be most important, is make sure you use proper spelling and grammar. A good way to do this is write it first on word or any other app/add on similar to it which checks your writing for you. You may be surprised by how many readers get annoyed when you don't write with proper grammar/spelling. And I also strongly recommend Microsoft word because you can save your work. You'd be surprised by how many people lose their work as they type it on fanfiction. Those are my tips. _

**_mickeymack16:_**_I'm glad you found it, too, and I hope you like it!_

**_prettylittlespobyshipper: _**_I'm not sure if Cassidy really understands that Spencer and Toby are in love, but she can definitely recognize love when she sees it :)_

**_Spobyforever259:_**_Hmm...I don't know if I addressed it in this chapter, but wait for it. I think they've had Pandora for a few months by now. I know the timeline is never fully addressed, but Spencer and Toby got married in the end of September and Cassidy's birthday is near the end of the year/beginning of it. I'm not too sure. Even though it appears as though two events are close to one another because they're in the same chapter, they aren't necessarily so. Sorry, I don't think Hanna was in this chapter. But she's in the next one. I think. Yes, I think both Hanna AND Spencer should take the hints Cassidy is giving them. Thanks for the suggestion!_

**_Guest: _**_I'm sorry. I know I usually updated my last stories like two, three, maybe even four times a week, but I've been busy lately, and it'll probably only get worse with finals being in the not-so-distant future. ESPECIALLY considering I have to teach myself a whole years' worth of Biology. Fun times. But over the summer, it will possibly get more frequent. _

_So what do you think of Mason? Is he as cute as Pandora? Are you already choosing sides? Are you really sad that he's only a foster? Let me know. _

_And PSA from Kayson: please check out my one-shot collection, if you like my writing! I try to update like five or six times a week. And I'm trying with the whole one-shot thing. It's not working for me. But I tried. **-Kayson**_


	6. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note: **It's me! I'm back!_

* * *

**Chapter Five**

"It's really beautiful."

Spencer stared at the cherry wood rocking chair which had just been covered in varnish. "I decided not to paint it after you showed me that picture of Melissa's nursery. I think it goes really well with the rose and ivory."

Spencer raised an eyebrow and looked at her husband. "You talked to Hanna, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "She said it would look nice in the nursery and that it's a nice palette with about fifty more words I didn't understand."

Spencer nodded. That sounded a bit more believable. "If Melissa doesn't like it, I'll have to steal it," she said.

"I can make an exact replica for when you're pregnant if that's what you want," he said.

She felt him kiss her forehead as she closed her eyes. "No, you can make me whatever you want. In fact, I think you'll probably furnish the baby's whole room," she said. "And you can make the artwork and everything else. And I can just watch."

"Spencer, I can't—"

"Oh, don't you dare say you can't paint! I have about fifty paintings around this house that look like they were painted by Manet or da Vinci or Matisse to prove you wrong."

He laughed. "I was going to say that I can't see you just sitting back and watching, but I'm glad to know you think of highly of my work as you do of Manet. He's your favorite, right?"

She shook my head. "Actually, I have a new favorite artist. You might know him. He's American and a contemporary of mine…I guess you could say. And he loves using the color red in his paintings. And he's very attractive. And—"

"I'm getting the impression that I should be worried about you and this favorite artist of yours. He's American _and _attractive _and _about the same age?"

She nodded. "Yeah, and I heard he even made a few paintings _just for me_."

He nodded. "I'm still better than him," he quipped.

She couldn't help but laugh. "We're both so mature."

* * *

"He seems to be doing well," the blonde commented as she watched Mason and another puppy run around the big open field Spencer and Toby had near their house.

"It's not other dogs we're really concerned about. It's people. He took to me like a fish in water, but he wouldn't go near Toby at all. He was shaking whenever Toby got too close. Now he's a bit friendlier towards him, but still very reluctant to go near him. And when my friend Aria and her daughter Cassidy came yesterday, he was eager to get to know them. So I don't know why he's so hesitant about Toby," Spencer disclosed.

Natalie thought about it for a moment. "If I recall correctly, the person who brought him in was a woman. But the volunteer she handed him over to was a male and the puppy was _extremely _scared to get anywhere near the volunteer," she said as she thought back.

"Do you think it could have to do with the fact that he's a male?" Spencer inquired.

"It could be. As unsettling as it may be, maybe because you bear a resemblance to his original owner, he's scared to get near you," she offered as she spoke to Toby.

Toby nodded. He was a bit upset, but didn't want it to show. Spencer put her hand over his.

"I think what we really just need to do is desensitize him. But aside from that, do you have any concerns?" she asked.

"Prying him away from Pandora when the time comes to adopt him?" Spencer added with a small smile.

Natalie smiled. "So he really likes your cat?" she inquired.

Toby smiled. "Pandora found her way into his room and we got home the other night from the store to find her sleeping on top of him. And sometimes they're cuddled up together in his bed," he told her.

"That's amazing. I'm glad he can get along with other animals. Now being as you guys probably now know him better than anyone else, maybe you'd like to take a look at some of the potential families for Mason?" she inquired as she took out a red folder.

They both nodded.

"James—one of the other volunteers—and I went to all of the houses for the people who expressed interest. We already weeded out the ones who don't have enough space or can't properly take care of him. We narrowed it down to four," she said as she took out the first round of papers.

"These are the Roses. They have three daughters, who are seventeen, eleven, and eleven. They have a set of twins. They have a huge chunk of land out in upstate Pennsylvania, about an hour away. Their house is beautiful. The mother owns a boutique, I think, and the father is a lawyer. They don't have any other animals," she said as she handed them the file. Attached were pictures of the house and the complete application.

"Next are the McIntyres. They adopted an twelve year-old son and a eleven year-old daughter. They live in New York, probably about an hour away from New York City. The mother is a stay-at-home mom and the father is a doctor. Their house probably isn't as big as the Roses, but it's a big lot of land," she commented as she handed Toby another file.

"These are The Jordans. They have twin girls who are both eleven. They have a Chocolate Lab. The mother is also a stay-at-home mom and the father works in global communications. They live in…Massachusetts." Spencer took that file.

"And last, but not least, these are the Andersens. They have one son who is thirteen, I think. The mother is so sweet. I think she's a nurse, and the father was a PR. Their son is also very sweet. Shy, but sweet. I don't think the father was there when I visited. His wife said he goes out of town a lot. They live around Philadelphia, not too far from here. They have a big fenced-in yard with a park nearby," Natalie explained.

* * *

They looked over all of the files as the dogs were playing for about twenty minutes.

"I think I like the Roses and the Andersens the most," Spencer said.

Toby nodded. "I think they're all great families. But I think I agree with Spencer, and maybe the Jordans as well," he said as he handed the applications back to Natalie.

"Honestly, I was a bit torn between the Roses and the Andersens," Natalie disclosed. "Why do you think the Roses?"

"I think that he'd have a ton of space to run around and play," Spencer answered. "And they have daughters. There would probably always be someone to take care of Mason."

"And the Andersens?"

Toby finally spoke. "I think it could help their son. And if his mother and he are as nice as you said they are, I'm sure Mason would be in good hands. And I'm sure they'd both benefit from it."

Spencer looked to Toby as he said it. She wondered if Toby wished he could have had a dog.

"I think I changed my mind. I think the Andersens are the perfect choice," Spencer said.

Natalie smiled. "Perfect! So we're all in consensus here?"

Spencer nodded as she looked at Mason getting tackled by the other little puppy. He was obviously having a lot of fun.

* * *

"So did you tell Toby yet?" Tiffany asked over the phone as Spencer prepared to brush Mason's thick coat.

Spencer sighed. "Tiffany—"

"Spencer! You have to tell him! I know my own husband and he would be _pissed _if I went to see my ex-_fiancée _without telling him. He'd be even more pissed if I didn't tell him right away."

"Well Shane is not Toby, Tiffany."

"Alright, maybe not. It doesn't make it _right _for you to keep it from him," she scolded.

"I'll tell him, Tiffany! But it's not a big deal. I don't know why you're freaking out. He's trying to get pregnant from someone else. It's not like he's actively pursuing me or anything," Spencer insisted.

Tiffany scoffed. "Yeah, you say that now…" she murmured.

"Bye," Spencer muttered before hanging up the phone. She was more than annoyed.

She looked down at Mason, who was standing and waiting for her on the bathroom counter. "What does she know anyway, Mason?" she inquired.

His little (still floppy) ears perked up at the sound of his name.

"I'm going to make you beautiful without the help of Hanna," she said as she took out a dog brush to begin combing his hair. "You have thick hair, right?"

Mason didn't answer, but looked at Spencer happily with his big blue eyes, his perfectly pink tongue sticking out. Spencer laughed and settled for the wire side of the brush, which was better for long-haired breeds. Mason began panting, his tongue sticking out, when she brushed the hair on his head. She began to laugh. "If you weren't scared of him, I think you'd be good friends with Toby! You're both so goofy," she commented as she began to brush his back. "You're really soft."

Spencer made him lie down as she began to brush his sides. As she reached closer to his tail, she noticed the skin under his fur felt different. Confused, she began to brush the hair away so she could get a better look at his skin. She was horrified when she saw what it was.

He had half-healed cuts all over his backside, his stomach, even some higher up on his back which she missed.

"Toby!"

Mason looked a bit alarmed by Spencer screaming. Spencer held Mason close to her and buried his muzzle into her chest, almost protectively.

"Spence? What happened?"

"Look at what someone did to Mason," she said sadly as she brushed some hair back so he could see. The puppy was also bruised around his backside.

"I'm scared I'm hurting him," she told him as she put the brush down.

He thought for a moment. "I think maybe we should just let him be for now. At least, until the wounds are all healed."

She just nodded and put the brush down. She picked up Mason, very carefully, and held him. "The poor baby," she murmured. Mason buried his face in her hair. He didn't seem to understand why she was so upset.

"Did Natalie tell you about this?" Toby asked as he brushed the black patches of fur back over the cuts.

She shook her head. "No. I mean, I figured that he was neglected; she said he was found tied up outside. She didn't give me any more details."

"Spencer…" he began, "I think you're scaring him. Maybe we could leave him alone and you could rest for a little bit."

Though she didn't want to let him go now, she had to agree. She reluctantly put him down.

* * *

She paced back and forth very nervously. This brought back familiar memories. Uneasy memories.

She took very staggered breaths. Waiting was—once again—like a lifetime.

She couldn't believe she was back here. She wasn't happy. Well…she was, _now_, at least. But she didn't want her life to change _yet again_. She was through with change she was just getting used to her new life. She liked how it was.

She thought she was over this.

Her subtle OCD and need for order and control could hinder this moment.

She kept trying to remind herself that it wasn't true. She was just acting weird lately; there was no need for panic.

So why was she freaking out? If everything was alright, surely, things would go as planned.

Time was up.

She frowned.

* * *

_**Sarah: **I don't really like cats, either, but Pandora is the exception. And Mo. But you don't know Mo. I'd take out bio in a heartbeat since I don't really like my teacher and I'd take out Geometry because it hurts my brain :) _

**_sarahschneider2012: _**_It seems as though half my readers are named Sarah, lol. Thank you very much! I'll try and read it when I get the chance!_

**_tobyequalshottness: _**_Toby and Mason are bros. Totally. Mason is a cutie. Siberian Husky pups are cuties. _

**_MizzIsTheFizz:_**_I use weird names. I think the most normal names for OCs/OPs (Original Pets) I've used so far are Chloe and Cassidy. Glad you liked it!_

**_AL3110:_**_Jeez. AL, would you like to write this fanfiction? Because I see no "Sexy Cat" in the near future. Feel free to make a sister fanfic based on this OP of yours and my Pandora. I give you full rights. _

**_Spobyforever259:_**_I think I thought of that in the back of my mind when I wrote this. Gregg Sulkin is really adorable, right? I loved him (in WOWP and PLL). Um, wait for it. Yeah, the whole Mason being traumatized thing was supposed to show that idea that when animals (or people) are abused, they're' often very hesitant/scared among people who are similar to their abusers. So think that Mason's attacker is: male, tall (like Toby) and probably looks at least a little bit like him. I know! Melissa is the nicest one of them all. MELISSA. For crying out loud. Hanna will be around probably around Chapter 8-10 very frequently. I'm not really going to say why. It's kind of dramatic, but not really. _

_Alright, so as some of you may have noted from SOSC, I'm not too happy. But I saw something on Tumblr that made me very unhappy with fanfiction in general and writers in general. _

_Why, why, why, oh, why do people get so agitated by losing followers/author favourites? I honestly cannot comprehend it. I've lost Tumblr followers and story followers and favourites and had people say some not-nice things about me and my writing. But why do you have to dwell on it. _

_I told myself I wouldn't name names, but I honestly have to otherwise I'm being really vague. And I don't mean to pick on her; I really don't. I think she is a fabulous writer and she has a lot of fans. So if anything, I'll probably get reamed out for this. The post in particular I saw today was about Mama Spobette, AKA Bree. Now, I used to read her fanfictions. I don't get a lot of time to anymore. From my understanding, people send her hate and stuff. First off, that's immature, so if you're doing it, stop. And if you're going it on Anon, you're a coward, get over yourself, and like you can do better. _

_But that's not really what I'm getting at. I saw one her fans or friends (I don't really know) write a long rant about how people should stop unfollowing her on fanfiction and everything because she doesn't post anything anymore and she removed all her stories (and keep in mind, this was a FRIEND, not her). _

_I'd like to address that by saying that yes, she removed all her stories. That's her choice. If that's what she wants to do, you go girl. If I were to remove all my stories, that's my choice; it's not really anybody else's (including my readers') place to judge. _

_But I had her on my favourite author's list. I did and I removed her when her stories were taken down. Why? Because I started to, I guess...get disillusioned with her work and I wasn't really a fan anymore. That's my personal opinion. Her writing just isn't exactly my cup of tea. Aside from that, she removed all her stories. There's nothing there for me to like anymore. But that, my darlings, is MY CHOICE. Just like she had the choice to remove her stories, I have the choice to remove her from my favourite author's list. So I did. I wanted to. My choice. Some other people did, too, I guess, since people are getting so angry about it. _

_But there's something else that really bothers me, and again, I'm not picking on her. In fact, this is just a general note to everyone, especially all the very popular fanfiction writers; this has nothing to do with Bree. You should be very grateful for the followers you have. If someone unfollows you, it's not a big deal. You have other followers, ESPECIALLY all you other popular people with hundreds and hundreds of reviews and dozens of follows/favourites. There are people who post stories and have written like twenty chapters and gotten maybe ten reviews. You should be VERY fortunate and VERY grateful to have the amount of followers you have. I don't think I've ever, ever, ever threw a fit about someone unfollowing me or unfavouriting me. Guess what? That one person unfollowed me, but I have other people who read my stories. I like (most) of what I write. I have other reviewers. And honestly, when I'm asking for reviews, it's not me wanting that little number to go up next to the little speech bubble on my phone (which is where I read all the reviews). I honestly want to hear from you guys and know what you thought. I don't get ten reviews every time I update, but that's okay with me. I am just very, very grateful to have you all. It honestly bugs me when I feel like some people aren't as grateful to have you all. I'm very fortunate for every single person who took the time to read any of my stories, even if just one chapter, one paragraph, one sentence, even. _

_So I guess this was kind of like a rant but also me thanking you for reading in some weird, twisted way. _

_Oh, and if this is written off as hate IT IS NOT HATE. Okay? Let me be clear. This is not hate. I did not say anything in this post to insult, belittle, or demean her or any of her stories. It wasn't even me calling her ungrateful by any stretch of the word. In fact, I think that Mama Spobette/Bree is a very gracious, kind author to her viewers/readers and there are many fans of hers to attest to that. She just seems like a really nice person. But I really am sick and tired of seeing some other very popular writers on fanfiction act ungrateful for the followers they have. _

_Rant over. **-Kayson**_


	7. Chapter 6

_**Author's Note:** For the people concerned about the pets...I have a note! _

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"Normally, we discourage giving pets table food, but I don't think this little will really hurt Mason," Natalie said as she took a small piece of chicken in her hand. She put it in her palm. "Let's just make sure Mason likes it, though you said he's been eating a ton, so I don't think he'll have a problem.

Natalie crouched down and placed her palm on the ground. Mason's ears perked up when he looked. He ran over and sniffed the meat before eating it. He looked disappointed when it was gone.

"Okay, now you try it, Toby," Natalie prompted.

Toby did exactly as Natalie had seconds ago. Mason was a bit more cautious around him, but eventually took the chicken just the same. He began licking Toby's palm when it was gone. Toby smiled and began to pet him. Mason even began to smile.

"Okay, Caleb. Try it," Natalie said.

"Dogs don't like me," he insisted.

"Oh, stop being a baby!" Hanna scolded. "Just do it."

Caleb sighed, but (slowly) did as he was told. Mason was even more hesitant with him, but eventually did the same. He also began licking Caleb's palm, to which Caleb began to laugh.

"Okay, maybe the three of us should leave the room and see how Mason handles himself with Toby and Caleb," Natalie suggested. Spencer and Hanna nodded in agreement. Before Toby and Caleb could protest, they were out of the room.

Suddenly, Mason got a bit timid again. But Toby came up with an idea. He took some more meat and held it out for Mason. He was much less reluctant to take it from him. And then, on a whim, he picked Mason up. He was shocked when Mason didn't react at all. Maybe he finally realized Toby wouldn't mistreat him.

* * *

Melissa gasped when Spencer opened the door to her baby's nursery. She immediately walked over to the chair.

"It's gorgeous! Where did you find this?" she asked as she ran her hand over the smooth wood.

Spencer smiled at Toby. "Toby made it," she answered proudly.

"You _made _it?" she inquired with pure shock.

"I used to be a carpenter before I graduated from college to become an architect. It actually helped me pay some of my tuition," he told her.

"We came up with it because when Aria had her daughter, the easiest way to get her to sleep was to rock her in the rocking chair," Spencer explained.

"I didn't even think of all the sleepless nights I might spend, but I guess if it helps, I'll have to be eternally grateful," she joked.

They were just glad Melissa liked the gift.

* * *

"Are you nervous for having the baby?" Spencer asked as she helped Melissa fold clothes.

Melissa thought about it for a minute. "I'm nervous…but I'm mostly excited. I feel like we'll finally be a complete family. It almost felt as though…some part of us was missing. I mean, some couples don't need or even want a child to complete them, but I felt like that would just complete us. I don't know if that makes any sense, but…" she trailed off.

"No, I get it." Spencer didn't really know how to feel about it, though.

"I don't know what I'm saying. I don't expect you to understand. You don't have a child and you and Toby seem to be perfectly content."

She was silent. "Yeah," she said quietly, though she wasn't so sure about it herself.

Melissa sighed as she put the last of the clothes in the laundry basket. "Thank you so much for helping me today, Spence. I really appreciate it, especially since my…baby is getting in the way," she joked.

Spencer smiled. "I'm your sister, Melissa. And that'll be my niece. You know that I'd do anything I can to help you out," she said before giving Melissa a hug.

"It means a lot to me," Melissa answered with a smile. "And will you meet me tomorrow for lunch, maybe?" she asked. "I kind of wanted to talk to you about something."

Spencer thought. "I'd love to, Melissa, but tomorrow is the day that Toby and I are meeting with the adoptive family for Mason."

"Oh, okay. Next week then?" she asked. "It's pretty important."

* * *

"I'm so nervous about letting Mason go," Spencer confessed as they drove to meet Natalie and the new family. "It's bittersweet. And I know that this is kind of what we got ourselves into when we signed up to be foster parents, but this is the first time."

"Mason is going to be in good hands. If the family is as nice as Natalie described them, I'm sure that Mason will love them," Toby assured her. "I'm happy to meet them."

Spencer nodded in agreement. "I know he'll be in good hands. Still. It's sad to see him go."

* * *

When they walked to the park with Mason close behind with his leash, Natalie was already there talking to a woman and a boy who looked a lot like her. They both assumed that they were the Andersens.

Mason wagged his tail happily, probably thinking that it was just another day at the park.

"…And there they are now!" Natalie said to the woman and her son as Toby and Spencer walked over with Mason. "Spencer, Toby, this is Alexis and her son, Alex," she introduced.

"It's nice to meet you," Spencer said to them.

"And that's Mason," Natalie continued.

Mason had stopped wagging his tail and sat down near Spencer. He didn't show any obvious signs of being scared, but Spencer knew he was probably a bit apprehensive.

Toby pet Mason on the head. "He's just a little shy. But he's a very sweet dog once you get to know him," he said. Mason looked up at him and seemed to smile.

"Alex has been begging me for a dog for the longest time," the mother said with a smile.

"Obviously, this park is a great place to take Mason to run outside. And your yard is also great," Natalie said.

* * *

"…And this is our backyard," Alexis said as she showed Spencer and Toby the big closed-in backyard. They could picture Mason running around happily. It was a nice backyard with a lot of room for him to roam. "And Mason's bed is in Alex's room. I know he's a bit quiet about all of this, but I know how excited he is," she added.

Spencer and Toby both smiled at that. They peeked inside the house, where Natalie was talking to Alex, who was petting Mason. They were both confident it was a good match.

Five minutes later, they were back inside the house. Mason looked excited to see them again. He ran up and jumped to Spencer and Toby. They both kneeled down to say their last goodbyes.

"You're going to like it here," Toby promised.

"And we'll miss you, Mason. But you have a good family. Everyone made sure of it. And nobody is going to hurt you again," Spencer added with a small smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, Spencer spotted Alexis talking to her son quietly. She let go of Mason and he walked back over to them.

"I asked my mom and she said that you can come back to visit him whenever you want," Alex said finally and it was the first words that he said that day. Spencer could see that he was soft spoken. "And…I'm going to take really good care of him," he promised.

Spencer smiled slightly and nodded. "I know. That's why we wanted him to come here with you."

Alex smiled at that.

* * *

"Happy birthday!" Spencer exclaimed before she hugged Jason. "How old are you today?"

"Thirty...four," he answered with a small smile.

She looked behind him before closing the door. "Where's my bumblebee and my Aria?" she inquired.

"They're on their way. Aria said she needed to get something and that she'd be over soon. Is anyone else here?"

Spencer shook her head. "It's just me and you. Toby should be home in like half an hour. Hanna and Caleb should be here soon. So should Tiffany, Shane, Chloe, and Emily. But I'm kind of glad it's just you and me right now. I haven't talked to you alone in a while," she said. They had grown to be pretty close, but didn't get the chance to talk for a while. "How is work? How is life? How is everything?" she inquired.

"Work is fine. Life is okay. Everything is good."

She couldn't help but feel like that was a lie, though. "Are you sure? You don't sound it."

"Oh, um…" he began, "it's nothing really. I just…found out some things about my father and it's been on my mind a lot lately."

Spencer had known that Jason grew up with a sister and a single mother. As far as she knew, he had never known his father, and if he did, it was only for a brief visit or maybe the first few years of his life. And then, if he had met his father, it was insignificant and so brief that he couldn't even recall it with a faint memory.

She also knew his younger sister ran away with someone when she turned sixteen and he had only heard a little bit from her since she ran away. The last time he heard from her was about six or seven years ago. She knew his sister must have been about her age, so around twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

"What happened?" she inquired calmly.

She saw a lump rise in his throat.

"I found him."

It turned deathly silent in the room.

"D-does your mother know?" she stuttered.

He shrugged. "She knows he's alive. But this whole time, he's been telling Alison and I that she was dead," he choked out.

Spencer felt horribly for Jason. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to think her father was dead her whole life. She put her hand on top of his.

The front door opened. It was Toby with Aria and Cassidy. Spencer and Jason both turned to face them.

"I hope you didn't miss us too much," Aria joked. It only took her a second to realize that they had come in at an odd time. She squinted her eyes. "Are you two okay?"

Spencer and Jason both nodded. "We're fine!" Spencer insisted a bit too eagerly.

At least, Spencer hoped so.

* * *

"So what was the deal with you and Jason?" Toby asked as he cleaned the dishes whilst Spencer poked her finger around Pandora.

Spencer shrugged. "Nothing much. He was just telling me about…things with him and Aria and Cassidy."

Toby stopped. Spencer noticed and turned to him. "Are they having any…problems?" he inquired timidly.

"What? No! No," she insisted. "He's just…a bit…upset that he's not around more often. He misses when Cassidy was a baby and he was around a lot more often. And he said that Aria's okay with it, but he doesn't feel the same…" she trailed off. She hoped he didn't mention it to Jason; that was a totally made-up story.

"Jason's a good father," Toby commented quietly. "Cassidy loves him a lot."

"Yeah, well…everyone is their own worst critic."

With that, Spencer picked up Pandora and brought her upstairs. Pandora began to purr.

Back downstairs, Toby wondered what was going on with Spencer. That was quite an unusual scene.

* * *

**_sarahschneider2012: _**_My dog was from a breeder. I love her, but I kind of wished that we had adopted her from the shelter. _

**_Sarah:_**_Are you allergic? My parents both are, but I'm not :) Yay! They're cute. My cousins got two like two or three months ago, but I haven't seen them yet. I'm going to see them next weekend, though, so I'm pretty excited! _

**_MizzIsTheFizz:_**_Yes, and um...we'll see how that goes ;)_

**_spobylover1237:_**_Well, I'm glad it got to you in a good way! The poor babies. I just get really sad when I see those commercials when I'm eating dinner or something. Is it bad I feel worse for the dogs than the little kids? I think that makes me somewhat of a horrible person, but my mom and grandma feel the same way, so maybe not. _

**_Guest (littlespobette):_**_I don't have any huge plans for problems...yet. Maybe something will arise in the future. I'm not too sure how dramatic Spoby's life will get. I have a more angsty Spoby/Caleb fic in the works, so this one might just be fluffier than everything else. But thanks! And if you write it and upload it, tell me, and I will probably check it out (even if I don't review right away; I read a ton of Spoby fanfics). _

**_ilovetobycavanaugh:_**_He will, and you know I can't answer that!_

**_tobyequalshottness: _**_Hmm..._

**_arubagirl0926:_**_I'm sure it was a pretty rocking chair :) Thanks for reviewing. _

**_Spobyforever259:_**_People who hit animals...they're disgusting and there's a special place in hell for people like that. A certain quote about mockingbirds and blue jays comes to mind. Well...I don't think Andrew will interfere. I can't tell... :P It's okay. I understand. My brain is odd. I was born with extra connections and that's why I have synaesthesia (see, I did my bio project). _

**_AL3110:_**_Ugh, no. We are so not having this discussion about "Sexy Cat" again. _

**_spobypll98:_**_You were supposed to be confused. This is what I call "Stylistic Ambiguous Writing". I do it quite often. _

**_eveningshades1107:_**_ Here we go with my long as hell replies: Yes, but unfortunately, this story is not turning out as well as the prologue was. Thanks. And I actually got the idea of naming him Bourgeois because there's this kid in pretty much all my classes and he was in my math class last year. The guidance counselor (whose office is across the hall from the classroom I had math in last year) had a huge stuffed bunny and elephant. I named the elephant Peanuts and he named the rabbit Bourgeois. I didn't actually know what Bourgeois was until this year, but I thought it was a cool name that just rolls off the tongue. They're sufficient :) and I like Natalie! I really hope you like her. I am open to tips/suggestions. I think you all read into it waaaay too much. Aside from Mason being a poor little angel, there's really nothing to his abuse (except for an a-hole and coward who has a special place in hell with Satan...though Satan is better than them [even if he's...Satan]). _

**_mickeymack16:_**_Hmm...I can't tell. And yes, I'm always right :)_

**_prettylittlespobyshipper:_**_Thank you for the feedback and I addressed this a little in the note at the end. I will try to add a bit more Spoby, and I think it will be happening quite soon, actually. The first part is kind of hard, so the second one will be a lot less about pets (and a lot more about Spoby and you will find out why ;) ). And as you can see, I am adding in little bits of other people, particularly Jason (and Aria and Cassidy). And then Melissa, since she's having a baby (sorry if you don't like Melissa, but she's not really a bitch in this fic). _

**_Guest:_**_I'm trying not to make *everything* about the cats and dogs, and I personally don't feel like it is, but I hear you and I'll try. I've been getting a little lazy with this story, so I'll try to get a little better about the next few chapters. _

**_vondydora:_**_I cannot tell! You'll find out in a few chapters. And I think you guys are reading into this whole abuser thing. But that's okay. I read into everything on PLL, from what colour shirt Hanna is wearing to how many birds are in one particular shot, etc. And don't worry. Toby will find out. Can't tell you from who, but he will :) _

_Now onto another note..._

_There were quite a few people who seemed a bit concerned about this whole pets thing. And a lot of you, ironically, are very eager for kids and babies and oh my God, this is a lot to digest. But I really want to establish a foundation here. Spencer, as I've mentioned many, many, many, **many **times before, is not quite ready for children yet. Pets are really great for people who don't have children to have responsibility. I mean, a cat (or dog) is a living thing, kind of like another person. So Spencer and Toby being able to care for Pandora and a foster is great practice for when they do (hopefully) have a child. _

_But I do understand where you guys are coming from with Spencer/Toby/everyone else. I hope this chapter intrigued you (even if just a little) because this arc with Jason is going to be interesting. And Pregnant Melissa (can't tease too much about that, but you'll see her a bit more before this part is over)!_

_And I think you guys are going to be both very happy and very sad with Part II, as a little warning (but it's not for about another 4-5 chapters, I think). It'll get really emotional. Part IV is going to be even more emotional. Just warning you guys! _

_And my last question is...if I wrote a story, would you guys read it? I really need to know! Thank you! **-Kayson**_


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Natalie had a bit of a somber expression on her face when Spencer and Toby went to the shelter that day. She looked a bit more stressed than usual.

"Is something wrong, Natalie?" Spencer inquired.

Natalie shrugged. "It's just…the shelter is getting so crowded. Some of the directors here said that if we can't get some of these animals adopted, we'll probably have to start putting them down." She frowned. "So I have one animal in particular I'd like to give to you guys. Her name is Lucy."

Without another word, Natalie exited the room. Spencer and Toby got up to follow her.

Natalie walked down the penultimate row of cages and about three cages down. There was a cat lying down in the corner. "Lucy!" Natalie called sweetly.

The cat turned and began walking to Natalie, who was there with open arms. It became apparent to them that Lucy was pregnant.

"She's pregnant?"

Natalie nodded. "When the director told me she needed to get a foster, you were the first people I thought of. She needs a calmer, less chaotic place to have her kittens and I know you'd both take great care of her," she insisted.

"Natalie, this might sound like an odd request, but…can we invite someone to stay with us? To help us take care of her? And do you know anything about delivering kittens, because I'm at a loss right now," Spencer explained.

"Well, when the time comes—and believe me, you'll know when the time is coming—you can always call me and I'll come and help. I don't have a lot of experience with delivering animals, but I've worked with kittens and puppies a bit more than you have and I _have _taken a course on it before," she told us. "I would be happy to help."

Spencer smiled as she looked down at the cat.

* * *

"Wow. She doesn't even look that pregnant."

Spencer gave Hanna a very skeptical look. "Really? She's not going to be offended if you say that she looks really pregnant. She's a cat," she informed Hanna.

"No, that's not it. When you told me she was pregnant, I just pictured her being like…really pregnant. But she kind of just looks like a fat cat," Hanna explained.

Spencer rolled her eyes. "Excuse me. I didn't realize the distinction," she retorted.

"You don't need to be sarcastic all the time, Spence," Hanna fired back with a slight glare.

"Oh, but I do," Spencer answered.

Hanna rolled her eyes at Spencer. Spencer's phone began to beep. It was a message from Melissa's husband. Spencer's eyes widened when she saw the message.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed with a slight smile.

Hanna didn't pick that up; she was alarmed. "What? What's wrong?"

"I'm…I'm an aunt. Melissa is in the hospital," Spencer announced. "She just had her baby." She smiled. "I'm sorry, Han. I know we made plans to hang out, but I need to go see her and my new niece now," she said.

Hanna nodded in agreement. "Of course."

"Oh, can you please stay with Lucy? I don't really want to leave her alone and I don't know where Toby is or when he's coming home," Spencer added.

Hanna nodded, but Spencer was already halfway out the door.

* * *

Spencer walked down the sterile halls of the hospital in Philadelphia to find Melissa's room. She had been searching for five minutes and was ready to scream. She just wanted to find her sister and her new niece.

She finally found the room about a minute later. It was the room right next to the edge of the building.

She walked in cautiously. Melissa was lying down in the hospital bed. Spencer couldn't see her face, as she was turned towards the window, her back unknowingly towards Spencer. She groaned with a bit of pain.

"Melissa?" Spencer asked cautiously.

She rolled over to see Spencer. "Hey, Spence."

"Where's the baby?"

She groaned. "I don't know. The nurse told me she'd be back soon, but I don't know where they went. I…" she drifted off. She looked a bit odd.

A nurse walked in behind Spencer. Spencer turned to her. "Is there something wrong with my sister?"

The nurse bit her lip as she looked at Melissa. "It seems that she's having a rather…odd reaction to the epidural the doctors gave her. We needed to do an emergency C-section anyway, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone act like this."

"So…where is her daughter?"

"All the doctors and nurses are still giving her vaccinations and getting her cleaned up. She was only born about…forty-five minutes ago? Usually it doesn't take this long, but the hospital is oddly crowded with expecting parents," she explained before walking over to Melissa. She took her blood pressure again before walking out of the room.

Spencer walked over cautiously to Melissa's bed. "Hey. How do you feel?"

Melissa shrugged. She looked kind of tired and maybe even sad. "I just want to see my baby," she whined quietly.

"Yeah, I know, but the nurses are going to bring her in soon," Spencer promised her. She was trying to placate her sister, but…Melissa already looked pretty _subdued_.

* * *

"Toby…she's just about the cutest little girl I think I ever saw. Her name is Pamela and she has these really pretty, sapphire-colored eyes. And she's so good! I don't remember her crying at all yesterday. She just slept for most of the time I was there," Spencer explained as they walked into the hospital.

"Were you the only one there yesterday?" he inquired.

"Hmm…well, her husband came to see them and he stayed for like two or three hours, but he had to leave for this really important work meeting. My mother came because my father is in New York. She was there for probably two hours. I think other than that, though, I was the only one," she explained as she pressed the elevator button.

He nodded in response before stepping onto the empty elevator with her.

"She's so sweet. I think you'll love each other," Spencer said sweetly.

"It almost doesn't feel real that I'm her uncle now. Since we're _married_," he teased.

"Say it again?

"We're _married_," he repeated. It sounded so mellifluous to her ears.

She was about to kiss him before the door opened up and two nurses walked into the elevator with them. Instead, she took his hand and smiled at him.

When their floor came up, they quickly exited the elevator. As soon as the door closed, she gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Come on. Their room is this way."

* * *

When they walked in the room, Melissa was sitting up on the bed with her legs crossed. She had one hand on her daughter. Pamela was sleeping. She was swaddled in a peach-colored blanket and a rose-colored hat.

Melissa looked over at them and smiled. "Hey!" she greeted happily.

"You look especially happy today. Yesterday, you looked kind of like you were on drugs or something. You were completely out of it," Spencer commented as she hugged her sister hello.

"I was. Hi, Toby," she said with a smile. "And of course, I'm happy. I can finally see my legs and touch my feet for the first time in about three months."

Spencer smiled before going to look at Pamela.

"She's beautiful," Toby commented.

"Thank you," Melissa answered proudly. She watched as the two of them looked at their newborn niece. "I actually…I wanted to know if you would be her godparents."

The room was dead silent for a second before they both looked up with excitement in their eyes. "Really?" Spencer asked.

Melissa nodded. "I mean…her dad wanted his sister to be the godmother, but she lives so far away…and you're my only sib—" She quickly stopped and her face got a little paler. "You're my only _sister_," she amended, without Spencer ever noticing that she even slipped up. "I know that you'd take such great care of her. Both of you."

Spencer's fingers eventually found Toby's hand and they gave it a small squeeze. She wanted this. He nodded.

But he looked at Melissa. What was she just about to say?

* * *

Pandora was lying down on Toby's stomach as Spencer changed into her pajamas.

"I can't believe we're godparents. I mean…I can't believe I'm an aunt! And I can't believe I'm a wife! And Toby, I—"

"Yes, Spence, I know; you're talking at a million miles a minute," he teased.

She scoffed as she turned the light off in their closet and got into bed with him. Pandora immediately moved in between them.

"Sorry, Pandora. I need to scold your dad right now," Spencer said before picking her up and putting her on the ground. She meowed in annoyance before running off to the pile of Toby's sweatshirts that became her bed.

"Really, Spencer?"

She gave him a very annoyed look.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I know. Sarcasm and teasing is your thing, right?"

"Yes, and the sooner you learn that, the better," she told him before cuddling his side. He put his arm around her. "Okay, sorry. I overreacted," she apologized quickly. "But really, I hate it when anyone uses sarcasm. Aside from myself, of course."

"Yes, I can tell," he said before giving her a little kiss on the head. "And by the way, if she's anything like her mother, Pandora is going to be very annoyed with you for the next week or so. I've heard that Hastings can hold a grudge."

"Oh, but I'm not a Hastings anymore. Have you forgotten? I think my last name is Cavanaugh, so I don't know what you're talking about," she joked.

"Oh, right. Well, I've heard that Spencer _Cavanaugh _can hold a grudge."

"And who did you hear that from?"

"Her best friend who likes to go by Hanna Marin," he blurted.

She shook her head. "I could kill that girl..."

"No, Spence. Don't kill her. I need someone to tell me which shade of blue goes best with my eyes."

Spencer tried to suppress her laughter, but she couldn't hold it at all. She burst out in laughter. "You didn't just say that! Toby—"

"You're going to hold this over my head for the next five years, aren't you?" he inquired bleakly.

She nodded before kissing him on the cheek and turning off the lamp beside her. "Love you, too."

* * *

_Okay, so this was actually like my favourite chapter I wrote for this story so far. And I loved the scene at the end. So cute. Patting myself on the back for this. #ClapsForKayson_

_Also...I have no idea what to name Melissa's husband so if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. _

**_sarahschneider2012:_**_Thank you very much. Though, I really don't think my writing is all that great as I'm reading it over...but I'm glad you like it. I'm just extremely hyper-critical of myself. _

**_Kristinnmartin:_**_It's coming, eventually. _

**_MizzIsTheFizz:_**_Well, I'm glad you like it. I like having you as a reviewer. _

**_tobyequalshottness: _**_Alright, the truth comes out...next chapter? No, the chapter after that one (Chapter Nine). It's good, I think. I didn't write it yet. I think it'll be good. I'm trying to make it realistic. And yeah, Poor Jason and Poor Spencer...you'll find out why. Alex and Alexis (ha ha ha, so funny) are great. I wrote them for another story and they're sweethearts. Alexis is like an angel and Alex is...kind of like Toby, actually. Misunderstood and quiet to the point of almost brooding. So yeah, about S1 Toby. Gee, you know I can't answer that. You'll get to know in the next chapter. Some of you are going to be pissed at me, I can feel it, but I have a system going here. Just trust me. Sometimes you guys need to have a little more faith. I would never intentionally screw this all up. And since this is like a...idk, almost like a "What happens after..." kind of thing, I'm trying to establish how everyone is doing in this first part. The second part will be a lot more of exclusively Spoby. Happy? I hope so, because I need to make it through Part I before I get to Part II (it's over in...four chapters). _

**_ilovetobycavanaugh: _**_Ugh, I can't wait, either. kind of sad Keegan's not coming back until 5x02, but...hopefully, it'll be a happy Spoby reunion. And sorry it took me a while to update. I've just been busy and personal crises and all. _

**_arubagirl0926: _**_There's no specific "one thing" going on with her, so...there's that. But with last chapter, it was mostly just her being really uncomfortable and getting out of the situation. _

**_spobette-stelena: _**_They'll be perf as parents. And I think I may have started reading that...I don't know. If I did, I probably didn't review because I a) didn't finish it or b) was too lazy or c) it's still ongoing and I didn't want you to think I leave a review like every chapter because I don't because I'm rubbish at reviewing and being consistent. Then again, there are a ton of stories called "Safe Place to Land", so maybe I read a different one._

**_eveningshades1107:_**_Uh, yes, Spason is starting the secrets again. That reminds me of the PLL-Mean Girls trailer (because on Wednesdays we wear pink and this Wednesday was like the...520th Wednesday that they wore pink? IDK. Happy 10th anniversary, Mean Girls) that Jason was Damian and he was like, "That's why her hair is so big...it's full of secrets." I don't know where I'm going with this. Sorry. And I was really confused by the end. What? And also...we need to talk about Broadway. Because I saw like three shows and never talked to you about them. AND I went to Juniors and had their amazing hot chocolate/cheesecake (and oh my Jesus, their cheesecake was incredible. I was about to explode when we left). _

**_Spobyforever259:_**_Yeah, I wanted to make Melissa *nice* for once. And I feel like Spencer will need a big sis later on in this story. Hmm...I can't say anything about Alison and Jason, sorry. That's a secret that's going to stay under wraps for a while, so you'll have to be patient. And I haven't decided what to do with Chanel yet. She probably won't be in this part (since I'm almost through with it and there's no sign of her in these coming chapters), but maybe (just maybe) she'll bring on the drama and try to be a homewrecker later on in the story :) And then you'll all hate me. And actually, nope, I was talking about a book that I'm trying to write and get published outside of Fanfiction. But I will probably have a fanfic in the summer or maybe after the summer. I don't know yet. I'm working on it now and it's called "How to Be a Heartbreaker". It'll be like my first (technically) non-Spoby story. It'll be Haleb-centric with Spoby as like a sub couple. I like it so far. It's a lot edgier than what I usually write. _

**_Guest: _**_I'm so sorry it took me forever! I should have another chapter up next week (that is, if I can sit down and write it). _

**_AL3110: _**_AL, legit, no. And thanks for the input, but no way. No. And no, Alex and Alexis had nothing to do with Jade and Jaden Smith (funny though, right). And I SENT YOU A WHATCHAMACALLIT quote AND YOU DID NOT ANSWER! I WIN! But we can keep playing. _

**_Sarah: _**_Thank you! That means a lot!_

**_vondydora: _**_Thank you. I thought I made Jason and Spencer closer in the last few parts, but I guess not. So, they got closer. And thanks, I'm really glad you would read my stories. I love your reviews. _

_So...I'll just get right to it. There's this awards thing going on on Tumblr and they're nominating people in the Spoby fandom for a bunch of categories like "Best Spoby Blog", "Best Spoby URL" and there are these two categories I'd really love to be nominated for: "Best Spoby Writer" or "Best Spoby Fanfic." I already know I won't win (or I pretty much know), but to be nominated would make my...year. Like, it would mean the world, so if you like my stories and you like my writing...nominate me, please? It would mean the world. I'm thefaketeam on Tumblr, BTW, in case you ever need a PLL blog :)_

_And...I have to go because watching videos of people who are way better dancers than I could ever be (cough, cough, Brooke Hyland...Chloe Lukasiak...Mackenzie Ziegler...) ate up like my whole morning and I have to leave in like half an hour to go see my munchkins. Bye! **-Kayson**_


	9. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note: **Whelp...now YOU guys are going to be salty...#SorryNotSorry_

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

"So will you come or what?"

"Um…" the blonde looked around the coffee shop as she contemplated her decision. "Sure. Pandora and I are girlfriends and we can hang out and take care of the cat when you and Toby go on a date night or some shit," she answered tactlessly.

They exchanged a few more words before Hanna hung up. Emily and Tiffany came back with coffees. Well, Hanna and Emily had coffee. Tiffany had gotten a hot chocolate. Because…

"There's something I need to tell you guys," Tiffany said after a minute of feeling (and looking) anxious.

Emily and Hanna looked at her expectantly. Hanna was anxious.

"What's wrong?"

Tiffany let out a small sigh. "I think…I think I'm pregnant again."

It was deadly silent among the three of them.

"How…how long have you known?" Emily asked.

"Like…some number of weeks," she mumbled. "I don't…I haven't told Shane yet. I don't know how he's going to react. We agreed not to have any more kids for at least another year or when Chloe was like two, but…I guess I missed some pills and…I was going to take the morning after pill, but I was just so busy with Chloe and…how do I tell him?" she inquired, slightly frazzled. "What do I even do?"

They were both quiet for a few seconds. "You have to talk to him about it," Hanna said finally. "You can't keep that from him. _Especially _not that. It involves the both of you."

Tiffany just bit her lip. She looked very nervous.

* * *

Hanna looked up from her lazy position on the couch to the door as soon as she heard it open. Toby walked through.

"Hey, roomie," she greeted him.

He put down his keys before taking in her new nickname for him. "Roomie?"

She turned another page of the fashion magazine she was reading. "Yup. Did your wife tell you? I'm staying in the guest room until Lucy births or queens or has her baby or whatever you wanna call it," she said before taking a sip of the lemonade she had beside her. "Now I can make sure _all _your shirts complement your eyes."

The smirk on the blonde's lips didn't sit that well with him. "She really told you that?"

Hanna bit her lip to keep from bursting into laughter. His expression was just too priceless.

"I'm going to be a widower and we haven't even been married...six months," he decided. "I'll be a black widower."

She shook her head. "No, no. You can't just go make up idioms yourself. It doesn't work like that. Listen, Spencer is the book brains, I am the street brains, and you're just here to look pretty; hence, I make you look _especially_ pretty by choosing a nice shirt for you to wear."

He didn't look too amused. "Okay, where is she?"

"She said she had to meet with someone…parent? I don't know."

"Hanna, she's a college professor. I'm pretty sure they don't still have parent-teacher conferences in college."

She rolled her eyes slightly. "Fine. Maybe she's teaching a class. I forget, okay? Maybe she's having a meeting with the person who's in charge of whatever she does. What does she do anyway?" she inquired.

"Hanna, she…"

But after taking a look in Hanna's icy, confused eyes, he decided to give up. "I'm going to take a shower," he announced.

"I hope you have fun! I'll be here when you need to get dressed!"

* * *

"Help me bring the rest of the stuff in? It's on the front porch, Han."

Hanna got up quickly and slipped on her heels.

"Are you really wearing four-inch heels to go outside to get groceries?" Spencer questioned as she put the four or five bags she had on the counter.

"Hey, these heels are cute, they go with my outfit, and the porch is wet from the rain yesterday! And besides, what if some cute new neighbor or something passes by? I want to look my best!" she explained as she put her feet in those painful-looking, but still pretty heels.

Spencer furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey, what about Caleb?"

Hesitantly, Hanna shrugged. "Alright, so I'm off the market, but that doesn't mean I can't _tease_. Gee, Spence. I really can't figure out how you've been engaged _twice_ without even figuring this out. This is like Flirting 101," Hanna replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Sorry. I was probably better back in college and when I was flirting with Toby, I didn't even realize it. Evidently," she faux-apologized.

* * *

Once the groceries were all in the house and put away, Spencer turned to Hanna. "Okay, so two options. Either you invite Caleb over and we have like a double-date night or whatever or you go and visit him or Em or Aria and Jason and Cassidy because I will not have you third-wheel. I personally know how painfully awkward that is," Spencer proposed.

Hanna crossed her arms. "Depends. If I go, are you going to make this into an overnight thing? And if I stay, are you still going to make this into an overnight thing?"

Spencer raised an eyebrow.

"Are you two going to…do _stuff _later or what? And if I stay here, is it going to interfere with my sleep? Because I need it."

Spencer was silent for a few seconds. "I don't know."

"Okay, enough said. I'm leaving. I'd be happy to help you cook, though. Or bake. Ooh, I actually prefer baking. I beat you at baking a cake for Cassidy."

Spencer arched her eyebrow again. "What?"

"Cassidy liked my cake better," Hanna sing-songed teasingly. "And so did Aria. Mine was better."

The brunette narrowed her eyes. But then she smiled. "So I guess it wouldn't matter that you now bake for everything, right?"

Hanna opened her mouth to reply, but then she clamped it shut again. "How is it that you, Spencer Ha—_Cavanaugh_, always manage to win?"

Spencer had a sly little smile on her lips. "Because it's in my DNA," she replied.

* * *

"Okay, so I'm…I'm definitely pregnant."

Tiffany looked skeptically and uneasily at Jason, Aria, and Shane. Chloe was asleep in her room and Cassidy was napping on the floor beside her crib.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Shane," she said, almost on the verge of tears.

He was silent for a moment, but then he shook his head. "No, Tiffany—"

"I should've been more careful with my birth control," she interrupted. She was insisting that she was at fault here.

"Tiffany," he interrupted more firmly. There was silence, and Jason and Aria took this as their cue to leave. Once they were out of the room, he continued. "Why are you upset?"

"Well…aren't you? I thought we agreed not to even discuss the topic of having kids until Chloe was like two years old," she answered meekly.

"Yeah, but…we're having another _baby _now. Shouldn't we be excited? Chloe is going to have a little brother or sister."

Thinking about it, Tiffany bit her lip.

* * *

In the hall, Aria and Jason were waiting for Tiffany and Shane to resolve whichever issue they were discussing.

"Have you spoken to Spencer?" Jason asked.

Aria looked over at him and realized for the first time that he looked _nervous_. "What was the deal with you and Spencer when Toby and I came over for your birthday?" she inquired.

"We were just talking about…my family situation."

Of course, Aria knew the whole story about Jason's family. It made her sad. She was glad her mother loved him so much and was so close to him, since she knew Jason was not that close with his own mother.

"What did you tell her?" she asked hesitantly.

He shrugged. "I told him that I found my dad."

Her eyes widened. "And did you tell her who it was?"

* * *

Spencer fixed the bunch of fresh, pristine, beautiful red roses she had gotten from the florist. They looked perfect on the table. At times like these, she was quite grateful for her OCD. The table looked gorgeous for a romantic dinner—if she did say so herself.

Just as she was taking the time to admire her work, her phone began to ring. She was quite surprised to see that it was Andrew. She answered the phone quickly. She couldn't lie; it was mostly out of curiosity.

"Hello? Andrew?"

"Spencer!"

She could sense the excitement in his voice. "What happened? Why are you so excited? What do you want now?" she asked as she took a seat on the stool at the island in the kitchen.

"I was just calling to tell you some good news," he answered cryptically.

She sighed. "Alright, so I _got that _by now. What's the good news? Just tell me!" she demanded.

"Valeria is pregnant."

Spencer was silent for a moment as she tried to process it. Then, a smile crossed her face. "Really? So where does that leave the two of you? Because she's certainly not just a surrogate anymore…"

"Well," he began, "we're not entirely sure yet. I mean…we're not getting married, or anything like that, but…now that we're emotionally connected in a way, I guess, and we've kind of been seeing each other…I guess we're going to have the baby together," he explained.

She couldn't help but smile. "That's great, Andrew. I'm really happy for you."

It was silent on the other end. "I'm really happy for you, too."

Something about those words coming from him made her so overjoyed. She was so happy to hear him say that.

Right behind her, the door opened. She realized it would be her husband.

"I have to go, but thank you so much for calling me to tell me that. I'm really happy for you," she said before hanging up shortly afterwards.

She looked over to the doorway and saw Toby walk in, just as she had expected. He looked pleasantly surprised and confused by the sight before him.

"What is this?"

"This," she began, "is my way of showing my appreciation for my husband. Are you going to keep questioning it or are you going to hurry up and join me for dinner?"

* * *

**_MilaMizz:_**_The baby kittens don't come yet, so I don't know what you're talking about. Thanks, but I already used the name Shane. That's Tiffany's husband. And Tyler...mmm...I have to think about that one. _

**_AL3110: _**_Oh, my God, NO. And I have no idea, but that's an...interesting quote. I don't know. I haven't even seen like half the episodes of DM. Lucy is the cat. Lucy. Lucy is a girl's name. Lucy is pregnant. Pandora does not even know Lucy. _

**_arubagirl0926: _**_Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!_

**_Guest: _**_Well...I've got stuff planned for Toby and Pamela in Part II...it'll be cute. I promise. _

**_tobyequalshottness:_**_I'm so glad that everyone seemed to like it! I put work and energy into that. I loved it after, and so did seemingly everyone else, so...I'll pat myself on the back. _

**_Sarah:_**_I used to do that all the time, but...it just makes me feel sadder to remember I still can't see them for almost a month...*sad face emoji*_

**_Guest:_**_:)_

**_ilovetobycavanaugh:_**_I've heard that rumour SO many times. To be quite honest, I would not even care if she said no if it were true. Just to get a Spoby proposal...that would be like...*dying*_

**_eveningshades1107:_**_I have no idea what just happened...and ooh, we're on Broadway. Alright, so in February, I saw Cinderella, which you already knew about, and we ate Chipotles. Yay. Then, in the end of March (day after my birthday, actually), we went to see Newsies and it was AMAZING. My favourite part was when one of the newsies (I forgot who) was like, "The world is your oyster" but he said "oyster" in a really weird way and he had to repeat it like three times before he said "The fancy clam with the pearl on the inside!" Classic. And we went to Ruby Tuesday's that day. And THEN we went to see...drumroll...WICKED. I almost cried like five times just from the thrill of being in the Gershwin Theatre where Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth once were. I was just like...ah. And we ate at Chipotles and it was like the best day ever. And like two weeks ago, we went to see Once, which was nice and all, but it made me super tired and I was kind of annoyed with the ending. But it was funny. And we went to Junior's. It was so good. I had cheesecake and the hot chocolate. It was good, but you never told me I could swim in it. To quote Aria, "I wanted to drink in it, not swim laps."_

**_sarahschneider2012: _**_I think that things will just get cuter from this point onwards. Hopefully :)_

**_vondydora:_**_I just...I don't know what babies are like, so I guess I just write them all so they're good. I don't know. I just do. And eh, I feel neutral about kids. Little kids are kind of annoying, but I'd really like to have a baby and then probably like a teenage daughter so I could talk to them...about life and stuff, basically, I guess. You live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, right? I just kept thinking about you all throughout history, since we're learning about World War I and apparently the Balkans conflict was a huge factor leading up to World War I and I was like...oh... :)_

**_Spobyforever259:_**_Lucy Hale was the first person to pop up in my mind, so I was like...Lucy. I'm home. And...I cannot comment on that. I actually chose Pamela because that name was the prettiest name closest to the meaning of Melissa's name since IDK what Pamela's dad's name is. Melissa's name means "honey bee" and Pamela's name means "honeyed". Yeah, she won't get killed. I'm fairly sure of it. I'd possibly off her and have her stay with Spencer and Toby, but...someone already did that. I know I read it in another story. I forget whose. Whatever. She's nice. She can live. And actually, funny you should say that, but in both of my stories (I kind of consider the whole Red Trilogy one story because in essence, they are), my favourite characters (besides Spencer and Toby [and Dianna and Analeigh in Forget Me Not], of course) are the evil ones who pretty much are kind of just...evil. I loved writing for Psycho Aria, Chanel, Wren in FMN, etc. Thanks. I think my writing still has a lot of room to grow, but...it's better than my friend who used the wrong kind of "your/you're" the other day. It made me want to cry!_

_I am going to attempt to update next week, but I make no promises. I literally just started Chapter Nine yesterday at about 10 PM. Plus, I have the Spring Concert Thursday and...Jesus, this is going to be a long-ass week..._

_I'm tired, so...bye. **-Kayson**_

_I know. EVERYONE is pregnant...except Spencer, the one person you want to be pregnant. Oops. I didn't get the memo. Sorry, guys, but I'm just...apathetic today. I can't. _


	10. Chapter 9

_**Author's Note:** I think I'm fine...I think I'm tough...and then...FINALS HAPPEN. _

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

Twenty minutes of waiting later, Toby came down the stairs and sat at the table. Spencer, who was waiting at the table for him and sipping red wine, received a kiss on the cheek from him.

"What did you make?" he inquired. It wasn't extremely often that Spencer cooked, but when she did, he was often pleasantly surprised.

"It's a surprise, but you'll like it," she assured him. "But before that, I wanted to tell you something, and if you're unhappy, hopefully the dinner will smooth it over," she added softly before walking into the kitchen and getting another bottle of wine.

That made Toby a bit nervous. "Spencer…what's going on?"

She tapped her nails on the table nervously and there was a dramatic pause. "So…I told you about how Andrew wanted a baby, right?"

That instantly made him quite a bit nervous. "Yeah…"

"And you know how I set him up with a surrogate, right?"

"Yes…"

"Well, I've been speaking to him—"

"You've been speaking to him?" Alright, so she didn't actually think that he'd get nearly that upset; she didn't even think he'd get upset at all.

"Yes, but Toby, it doesn't mean anything. He's with Valeria. And besides…she's pregnant."

He stopped in his tracks. "She's _pregnant_?" he inquired with surprise.

She nodded. "He's really happy. I'm really happy for him. So see? You don't have to be _jealous_," she teased.

"Okay, maybe I _was _acting a bit ridiculous, but can you blame me? I love you so much and would hate to lose you," he confessed.

She smiled. "You're adorable."

He sighed. "I thought we all discussed words like 'cute' and 'adorable'."

"You're adorable. Don't try to fight it."

* * *

Pandora, Hanna, and Spencer watched as Lucy nervously walked back and forth, making occasional uncomforting noises.

"Is she queening or birthing or whatever?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I've never seen a pregnant cat before her, Hanna," Spencer said before getting up to put hers and Hanna's glasses in the sink.

"Should we call Natalie? She probably has more experience with this," Hanna suggested.

"Fine, call her. I'll be right back," Spencer said before slipping on her shoes and stepping outside.

Hanna was a bit confused, but shook it off quickly. "Okay, then…" she said before picking up Pandora, who had taken quite the liking to Hanna being her new BFF and roommate. Hanna pulled out her phone and dialed Natalie's phone number.

"Hey! Natalie! So glad you answered. Listen…Lucy is acting really…weird and Spencer and I think she might be in labor," she explained.

"Oh."

"We were hoping you know what to do, since neither of us really have much experience."

"Well…" The words came out of Natalie's mouth excruciatingly slowly. "First thing's first; did you and Spencer set up the box for her to queen?"

"Um…no?"

Natalie sighed. "Okay, so this isn't something I'll be able to guide you two through over the phone. Give me like forty minutes and I'll be over. But in the meantime, get a box and some clean towels and stuff and put it in someplace dark, like a closet. Queens or pregnant cats usually like being in someplace secluded and dark, kind of like a defense mechanism, so her kittens don't get hurt," Natalie explained.

"Hmm…okay. So it should be like a cardboard box?"

"Yeah, but cut it so Lucy can get in, obviously."

Hanna nodded as she began to rummage around for a cardboard box.

* * *

Lucy looked very uncomfortable.

"She's doing pretty well," Natalie commented. "Not that I'm a vet or anything, but from my experience, this is going pretty well."

Spencer and Hanna both looked nervously at Lucy.

"I called my friend Trent who is an _actual _vet and he said he'd be coming over soon to check up on her and make sure we're doing it right," Natalie explained. "How long has she been in labor?"

"Maybe…forty five minutes by now? A little more? An hour?" Hanna guessed.

"I'd say like an hour," Spencer confirmed.

Natalie looked a bit frustrated. "If she still hasn't given birth within the next hour, we really should go to the animal hospital. I don't know a ton about birthing, but I definitely know it's not healthy for the cat to be in labor for more than two hours with no kitten."

Spencer nodded.

"Now, do you have everything else? The kitten box? A heating pad? Antiseptic solution? Lots of towels? Gauze? Unwaxed floss?"

"Unwaxed floss? For what?" Hanna inquired.

"Tying off the umbilical cord! It keeps it from bleeding," she explained in response.

* * *

"The time of birth for this one is…2:37 PM. Got it, Hanna?" Natalie asked as she watched Lucy lick the first kitten clean. Hanna quickly wrote it down from outside the laundry room.

"Got it!"

"This one is female," Trent, Natalie's friend and vet, responded.

After the placenta for the kitten was delivered, Natalie and Trent tied off the umbilical cord and set the kitten down in the other box.

"The placenta came in at 2:39," Spencer commented as she gently placed the blue kitten down in the box and made sure it could breathe. Hanna noted it down.

* * *

Finally, about an hour and a half later, the fifth and final kitten was being delivered.

"This is the last one," Spencer commented.

It was born at 4:07, as Hanna noted. It was much smaller than all the other kittens.

"This one is male," Trent said.

Spencer carefully took him. He was a striped cat with grey and black fur. He was cute, despite looking completely and utterly helpless and vulnerable. She couldn't help but smile at him.

* * *

Spencer pet Lucy as the kittens were suckling. She couldn't help but get a bit annoyed at the four bigger kittens' avarice; they wouldn't let the littlest kitten get to the milk. She pouted. She was so annoyed that she hadn't even noticed when Toby entered the room.

"So these are the kittens?"

She nodded slowly.

"I missed the miracle of life?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, you did." She didn't mean it, really. She was just so tired.

"Gee, they're cute," he commented as he took the time to really look at them all. The first thing he noticed was that there were none which looked like Pandora. They were all either blue, grey, or striped (namely the runt). "Did you name them?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. Natalie said it would be a good idea to let prospective parents name the kittens. I don't know, but for some reason, it's more…_appealing _when you get to name your own pet," she explained.

He nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense."

"Where is Pandora? I haven't seen her all day," Spencer answered quickly.

"She was upstairs when I was getting changed. I guess she didn't want to meet the new cats?"

Spencer shrugged in response. "Natalie and Trent said it might be better that way, considering that the kittens are deaf. They said a different scent could interfere with the bonding process or something like that. I don't know," she replied with a shrug.

"That's…interesting," he concluded.

They sat in silence for a while. Peace and the simple silence were comforting for them. Except for the occasional meow from a kitten or high-pitched squeal, it was just about silent for nearly thirty minutes. Yet, it was comfortable, like there was an unspoken understanding between them. Spencer liked that they didn't even need to say anything and they could still be comfortable around one another.

But that kitten was still bothering her. She quickly wriggled out of his embrace and ran out of the room to go get something. He felt like he was left high and dry for a moment. Confused, he just focused on the kittens and Lucy. Spencer came back not two minutes later with a bottle in her hand. After slipping on latex gloves, she quickly picked up the baby kitten and began to bottle feed it.

"I can't stand to watch this kitten get…_abused _by his brothers and sisters," she commented while looking at the kitten lovingly. "He's adorable."

"They're all adorable; they're kittens," he reminded her.

"Right, but this one is cuter. It's smaller," she insisted. "And I don't know. He's _different_. I can tell. And different is interesting," she concluded.

"Be careful not to smother him."

She hit him on the arm before holding the kitten again. "Lucy doesn't seem particularly interested in him," she said sadly. "Natalie warned me that this could happen. Can you please get me a hot water bottle, Toby?"

He came back a few minutes later with a hot water bottle and some towels. Pandora was walking behind him cautiously. Spencer hadn't seen her all day.

As she took care of the baby kitten, he couldn't help but stare. She looked so beautiful.

"You're going to make an amazing mother one day, you know that?"

She looked up at him with some lost look in her deep brown eyes. "No…"

"Yes. And a beautiful one, too," he told her.

She tried to contain the blush she felt rising onto her cheeks, but some pink had spilled its way to her cheeks. "Maybe we should let them get some rest," she said, avoiding the topic. She absolutely hated when he made her feel this way again—like a lovesick little girl who thought nobody would ever _really _love her. She couldn't even describe or explain why that made her feel this way, but it just did. Maybe it reminded her of Andrew, in some vague, inexplicable, abstract way.

"You're right," he said, walking away with Pandora in his arms.

"I'm going to take a shower before I come to bed. I've been dealing with cats and formula and afterbirth all day," she said.

"Alright, too much information, Spencer!"

She laughed. "Really? You just got through that annoyingly cheesy and sappy profession of how beautiful I am and now you don't even want to hear my day?" she teased.

"I do, but I don't really want to hear about afterbirth and umbilical cords and placenta," he retorted.

"You know that Lucy ate like three of the placentas, right?" she inquired.

He made a face as he picked up Pandora. "Please tell me you're joking."

She shook her head. "Nope. Apparently, it gives her back nutrients and stuff she needs after her pregnancy. I don't know. It was gross, but whatever. It's nature, I guess," she explained. "So now you know why I'm in desperate need of a shower."

"Would you mind if I maybe joined you?" he inquired teasingly.

She bit her lip with the faintest smile on her face. "I think we can work something out," she replied equally as provocatively.

* * *

_**arubagirl0926: **Hanna has the best one-liners, doesn't she? Thanks for reviewing!_

**_Sarah:_**_Glad you liked it! And it's alright. I'm ready to go to bed, too. _

**_sarahschneider2012: _**_Jeez, it's coming! I promise! Hold your horses and your rabbits and whatever other animals you are in possession of! _

**_AL3110: _**_Oh, so you're like Charlie Harper from Two and a Half Men? Interesting. Well, Glee is just not as good now that there's no Finn and soon, there won't be any Schue or Sue or Figgins or any of them. That takes most of the Glee out of Glee. Like, I don't know if you remember, but the pilot was mostly all about Finn and Schue. Like, do you know how mad I get when everyone is like "This is the Rachel Berry Show" because really, it's not! Rachel wasn't all that important in the pilot. Sure, she's like the resident diva, but she is not what glee is all about. it's about glee. And Finn and Schue put the glee in Glee. Sorry. I'm just pissed. Andrew is fine. I'm almost 99% sure of it. _

**_ilovetobycavanaugh:_**_Well, the only real Spoby in this chapter was the end (which was still cute). The next one has Spoby basically being parents, along with the addition of one new couple (!) and some tension between Spoby and another couple. And then the 11th chapter and the last chapter of this particular part of the story will be a lot of couple-y stuff and something else I'm not going to talk about at the moment. _

**_tobyequalshottness: _**_Oh, my God, everyone. I know you want Toby to get Spencer pregnant, but it will happen! Eventually! Just give me time! You cannot expect genius in one chapter. I need to do it right. _

**_Spobyforever259: _**_My favourite old shows are "The Nanny" and "Mister Ed" which admittedly weren't that old (well, Mister Ed was at least in black and white, so it looked really old), but they were from kind of before my time. Actually, Mister Ed was like before my mom, so I guess that makes it pretty old (not that my mom is old, but...well, I give up). Ugh, I can't with that. It makes me so mad. Especially 'your' and 'you're'. Like, if someone writes a sentence such as 'Your going to be so excited to see it' or whatever (lame sentence, I know), I want to yell. It makes me so mad. I just want everything to unfold and develop in the right way. I want it to have some integrity, you know? Do them justice? Ha, actually, it wasn't that good. I just tricked everyone into thinking that. it was kind of like he was an ass one day and the next he was nice and sad and everything, so that was pretty dumb and bad on my part. Umm...well, I liked Glee (operative word: LIKED), I like Bob's Burgers (best show ever), I'm secretly obsessed with reality TV (BGC, Dance Moms, Real Housewives [I watch Miami, OC, NYC, and then I'm going to watch the new London one which is basically Housewives by another name], Mob Wives, Kim of Queens, etc.), and then I like Switched At Birth (when I have time to watch it, which is never), Melissa & Joey, Baby Daddy, and movies. A lot of movies. Mainly Lifetime movies. Oh, and I'm morbid, so I watch all those murder shows, too. Unless they show creepy pictures. And I don't mean like murder scenes. I mean pictures of people with black eyeshadow and mascara and stuff on so they look like raccoons and...I'm getting goosebumps thinking of it. But lately, mostly movies. _

**_spobylover1237:_**_Well, I kind of gave it to you this chapter. I don't know. I just don't feel like Toby would get really angry at her. He got annoyed, but it's not really like she truly did anything wrong. She just didn't say it. I mean, he really doesn't need to know EVERYTHING that happens to her. _

**_MilaMizz:_**_I feel like you keep asking me this question. No, I have not seen a single one of the Step Up movies. I think my friend Michelle has and she likes it (she's a dancer). Ditto. And I can just imagine what kind of trouble Spencer/Toby/Hanna can get themselves into. _

**_vondydora:_**_Well...Chloe is about...six or seven months old now? I'm not really too sure. I think it's about January/February and she was born in August/September...and I just liked saying during history class I knew someone from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was cool. Wait, what language do you speak, again? I know you said it before, but I can't remember. I'm just very curious :) Your English is pretty good for someone who hasn't used it since high school :) _

**_Guest:_**_Well, Anon, if you really want to know, you're going to get a long, winded explanation. To begin with, though it may not seem like it, I do have a life outside of fanfiction. I don't have friends, but I do, unfortunately, have a life. Second, one-shots, for the most part, are pretty terse and short and to the point. I don't really have to think of things that make sense or are really continuous with another part of a story because it's just a standalone one-shot. Most of my chapters are 1,500-3,000 words long, while my one-shots can be anywhere from 200-2,000 long. They're usually on the shorter side, as they're only typically like a page and a half to three pages on word, while my chapters are about six pages and usually longer. Third, most of my one-shots are prewritten, which means that I write like ten in a short span of time and have them ready so I don't actually write every day, I just upload one a day. For example, tonight I'm uploading #87 when I'm in the midst of writing #92. I'm actually pretty far behind on my one-shots. Fourth, I have a deadline for the one-shots to be completed, so those are really my priority while school is wrapping up and I still have a pretty limited amount of time which I can use to write. Fifth, for this story, I have to keep an endgame in mind and I can end up writing like three or four different versions of the same chapter before I get my completed version. If circumstances were different and I didn't have two other stories to juggle, PLUS finals, PLUS another out of FF, out of school project I'm working on, I probably would be updating every day, but I don't have that kind of time, and quite frankly, that's boring. Aside from that, I really don't know where this story is going (now it's gotten clearer, but I didn't know before), so it's hard to write when I don't know where I'm going. _

**_eveningshades1107: _**_Yeah, they are. People need to calm down when it comes to the Spencer getting preggers. It'll happen! We sing "For Good" every year at the Spring Concert as a tribute to the seniors. My choir teacher joked that it was called "Para Bueno" in Spanish and I'm just like..."...no." I so desperately want to sing "What Is This Feeling?" with someone. But as Glinda. Because she's just so pretentious yet so cute. I can't. Plus...Kristin Chenoweth. I was literally going to go into a sugar coma. I had hot chocolate AND chocolate cheesecake. And I have no regrets. _

_Alright, so I have to go, but really, please stop bugging me about the Spoby babies. It'll happen. Ferme la bouche. Just let it happen. **-Kayson**_


End file.
